


The Bond of Hylia

by tactfiction



Series: The Bond of Hylia [1]
Category: Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda - Fandom
Genre: Bond of Hylia, Din - Freeform, F/M, Hyrule - Freeform, Legend of Zelda - Freeform, Skyward Sword, The Bond of hylia, Zelda - Freeform, demise - Freeform, ebony acres - Freeform, farore - Freeform, ghirahim - Freeform, link - Freeform, nayru - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-14 16:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10540392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tactfiction/pseuds/tactfiction
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Zelda enthusiast Ebony Acres is no stranger to loneliness. With a sister in college, a father that's left the family, and a mother who's never home, things are looking bleak in terms of a social life. But when three unexpected visitors interrupt her on the cusp of her birthday, Ebony is thrust into a world beyond the screen of her TV.





	1. Destiny Calls

There's a brisk knock at my door, startling me awake from the light slumber I had been drifting off into. "You're alright with being alone for a few hours, right?" asks my mother from the entryway of my room. She's going out to buy groceries, but even when I'm going off to college in a year or so, she still can't gain my trust.

"Yes, mom. I'm seventeen," I retort. Mom scowls at me, the roll of her eyes painfully obvious. Well, I'm not actually seventeen. But I will be in a few hours - so it counts, right?

"You'll be seventeen tomorrow, but not now, so wipe that grin off your face. Anyways, your dad will be working late... as always... and I might not be home till past midnight, so take care of yourself, and feed your pets, would you?" Mom's snarky comment about Dad makes me chuckle. It's not every day she gets so bitter about his absence. So far, she's been taking the past ten years quite well.

"No problem," I say, voice laced with sarcasm. The door shuts, and I'm finally released from the weight of her scolding. No more stress, at least for a few hours.

I should probably explain how I got here. I'm Ebony Acres. Yes, very funny, ha ha, my name is an actual name for a forest. Or an elderly home. Either works, and both are pretty offensive. I'm seventeen - well, almost seventeen - and I have what people would oh so generously like to call an 'obsession' with Nintendo.

I'm pretty interested in everything the company has to offer: Mario, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, among others; the only thing that takes precedence over anything else is the Zelda franchise. It's just... so good. I had watched my dad play some of the older games when I was really young, but I knew from the moment I saw Phantom Hourglass staring back at me through the glass case of my local Walmart that my dad had the best taste in games. And apparently, I'm good at them, too. I haven't once picked up a walkthrough. I've never needed to. For some reason, I'm equipped with some gut instinct that allows me to know exactly where to go and what to do. I've fully completed every Zelda game out there - and yes, I do get called a freak at school for it. Big whoop.

I'm not exactly sure why I became such a huge fan of the series, or why I'm so good at all of the games. My best friend, Helena - her favorite character is Nabooru - says that I have a magical connection to the magical land of Hyrule that makes me feel how to play the game. If you haven't noticed, she's a bit crazy. But I don't think she's been tested. Even still, I always have to remind her that no such thing is possible. She often gets carried away in fantasies and I'm the one that has to bring her back down to Earth. Get over it, Helena: video games do not exist in alternate universes.

"What to do, what to do," I mumble in boredom. I'm not given enough time to think about the answer to my boredom, though, because my two pets - Saria, a welsh corgi, and Midna, a black cat - come crawling at me to feed them. "God, you two are so needy. It's a good thing you're cute." So I lug myself into my bathroom and pour each of them a cup of their respective food. It's the least I can do. Oh, the kindness of me. They should repay me for my generosity.

When I'm finally done feeding my pets and I'm alone in my room, I check my phone. 9:37pm. On a school night. Well, not much time has passed. I decide to pull out my copy of Wind Waker and try to get somewhere in the game for the twentieth time. I'm not through the second cutscene when I hear my phone buzz, but I shrug it off considering it's probably not important anyways. But since Wind Waker cutscenes take such a long time, and I have nothing else better to do, I go ahead and check my phone for the text. It's from an unknown, blocked number and simply says, 'Hylia...' I choose to shrug it off. It could just be someone from school. I mean, my love for Zelda isn't really much of a secret, so this could be anyone.

By the time I'm finished with the first boss battle, it's nearly midnight, and I find myself pondering on how I can manage to play through an entire Zelda game in a day - blind, at that - while it takes some of my friends years just to get through one. I guess it's just because I know the games so well. But even before I knew them like I do, I had weird instincts telling me right from wrong in the dungeons and temples, so I beat the games quicker than anyone I knew. That's what I mean about Helena's craze with me being "connected to Hyrule" or something.

Since it's so late and my plan of sleeping early failed miserably, I decide to shut the game down and give myself a quiet little seventeenth birthday party right at midnight. I know there's a box somewhere in the storage closet on my balcony that contains all the party supplies I used in my younger years like streamers and party hats, so with the little time I have left until midnight I go and see if I can find it. Outside, though, I notice that all the lamp posts on my street are out, which is unusual at best. It's dreadfully quiet - not even a cricket - and the silence slowly terrifies me, so I quickly rush back inside once I find what I need.

Once I'm inside, I look at the clock. 11:58. Well, not long now. I pull out my holographic purple party hat that's crumpled up from the wear and tear of my elementary days and set it next to me, choosing not to put it on. "You're seventeen, Ebony, you don't need a party hat," I whisper to myself. My pets join me in my room, nuzzling up against me as if they actually liked me, and now there's only a few more seconds to my birthday. I get my party popper, and right as the clock strikes midnight, I pull it, causing colorful streamers to go everywhere. Right as I do so, though, I begin to see a faint blue light on the other side of my blinds. It grows a brighter turquoise by the second. "Hylia..." it speaks.

Hylia?

It speaks?

I stand up and quickly put Saria and Midna in the other room before going over to my balcony window to check on the light, but it's disappeared. 'I should have known,' I think, turning around. As soon as my back is turned, however, I hear it again. "Hylia." The voice is more stern now, more desperate. I rush back over to the window to try to catch whoever it was coming from, but they're still not there. It's just a dark suburban street.

"You're hearing things, Ebony, just get a good night's rest." I only half-believe myself, though, considering whatever hallucination I was having had happened twice in an identical format. I rub my eyes tiredly and walk to my bed, where a... golden light... is sitting under my covers. In a panic, I jump back and nearly knock over my nightstand. "What... What?" I ask, my voice failing.  
"Hylia, the time has come," it says. Its voice sounds almost... goddess-like.

No, it couldn't be.

It can't.

Is it?

I inspect the light more, figuring that were I to be hallucinating, at least I can't be hurt by this thing. "What are you?" I ask it, clearly not as afraid or creeped out as I should be. The light floats from my bed to right in front of my face and the blue light from earlier - God, I knew that thing wasn't just my imagination - floats through the door. A third, green light comes from my closet, and the coincidence of these colors and this light and the name they're speaking makes questions buzz through my head at rampaging speeds, so fast I don't have time to ask any of them.

"This is Hylia?" The green orb speaks. I don't believe what I'm hearing, so I decide that I must be dreaming. My first thoughts go to when I fell asleep earlier, playing Wind Waker... wait... I never fell asleep. Which means, this is real. I think. Are they talking about the Hylia I know? There are three of them, and they're red, blue, and green, so it would make sense, but there is no way Hylia is real, and there's no way I am Hylia.

"You never answered my question. Who are you?" I ask, more strenuously this time. I just want an answer, to be honest. I don't even care what that answer is. I just want to know. The confusion is less than welcoming. The blue orb backs up and replies.

"You don't know who we are?" It nearly sounds offended. I shake my head, surprised as to how I'm even holding myself up. "I'm Nayru, and this is Din, and Farore." In sheer shock, my knees buckle and I fall to the ground. "Are you okay, Hylia?"

"I'm not Hylia, and you're not real, you're just figments of my imagination and you'll be gone when I wake up," I say quickly, stumbling over every other word.

Din floats forward. "We're not real? Sweetie, we're goddesses." It's not real, it's not real, I continue to tell myself. "We sent the incarnation of Hylia to live in another realm so she would be in peace. There is evil in Hyrule, and you must stop it." It's not real, it's not real.

"I'm just Ebony, I'm not the incarnation of a goddess. You're just made-up characters from Nintendo," I tell them, trying to wake myself up, but to no avail. The green orb - Farore - laughs happily.

"Nintendo?" she asks. "What's a Nintendo?" Is a goddess asking me a question about video games? No, she's not, my conscience tells me. I know that it's just in my head, but I'm so completely enthralled by their presence - real or not - that it makes me hope I'm not dreaming.

"It's a company that makes video games in Japan, and you're just three characters in it. So is Hylia. And now I suppose you'll tell me that I have to go on this mission with Link to help save the world, and we'll have to go through temples and dungeons, only to finally have a boss fight at the end?" I suggest sarcastically.

"I don't know what a video game is, and I don't know what Japan is, but that is actually exactly what we were going to tell you," Nayru agrees. I blink my eyes multiple times to get the balls of light to go away, but they keep appearing. "How do you know Link?"

"Din? Nayru? Farore? Can you swear to me I'm not dreaming right now?" I ask, completely ignoring Nayru's question. "I mean, this is never something I would ever dream of in my life and as much as I love your video games, I don't know if I would survive in one of them."

Farore moves up, getting so close to my face she could be kissing me. "Ebony, is it? I hate to burst your bubble like this, but you're the incarnation of Hylia herself." Don't believe a word they say, commands my conscience. I'm fighting two sides here. Real? Not real? Which do I even want this to be?

"Can I get a hand to hold, or something?" I ask. "This is all too much. I can't believe this, there's no possible way that I'm Hylia." Din, witty as she is, conjures up a smoky red hand out of thin air and attaches it to mine. "Thanks, Din," I say to her, laughing halfheartedly.

"Get some sleep," she says, slowly flying away from me. "But when you wake up, don't expect to be here." Din, followed by Nayru and Farore, flies out of my window, leaving me alone, exactly how I was before any of this had happened. Din's hand vaporizes in a few moments and I'm left by myself, on my knees, in the middle of my bedroom floor.

But I don't have much time to pull myself together, for suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, my eyes become incredibly drowsy, and before I know it I'm out cold on the floor, letting my body collapse into sleep.

(4/3/17)


	2. The Fabled Hero

When I come to my senses, my eyes are so heavy that I hardly care to open them. My head is spinning, throbbing, and the splitting pain alone is enough to make me feel dizzy. I try to move something, just to make sure I'm not dead or insane after the crazy dream I had last night, but all I can do is run my hand lazily across my carpet, scented with pine and as smooth as grass.

Wait. This is not my carpet.

My eyes shoot open, and within half a second I know for a fact that I'm not in my bedroom anymore. There's a bright sun above me, making me squint my already tired eyes, and trees are scattered along an open field with sparse density. I'm suddenly awake and alert, up on my feet in seconds. My head is still pounding, and between the confusion and disbelief I can't tell what the cause of the migraine is. I take my arm and pinch it tightly, hoping to wake myself up, but it stings and leaves a little red mark. So... I'm not dreaming. This is real.

The Goddesses were in my room last night.

I'm Hylia.

Am I?

I still don't fully believe anything. It might just be a fluke. I might be dreaming so deeply that I don't even wake up when I try. Maybe I'm in a coma? I did hit my head on the floor pretty hard last night when I practically passed out. Maybe my mom got home and saw me asleep and thought I had a concussion, so I'm in the hospital. Yeah, we'll go with-

Who's that?

A figure is emerging from the other side of the woods. I follow the path it's walking with my eyes and find that I'm sitting cozily on the same trail just half a mile or so away. With the sun behind it, I can't tell who it is - or what it is, for that matter - but I know it's all a dream. It can't hurt me.

A few minutes later, as the figure gets closer, I'm forced to hide myself behind a tree and wait for it to pass peacefully. At this point, I can tell it's human, but it's nowhere near close enough to see me, or reveal its face. My head pops out from behind the tree to take a closer look, and I can now make out green. There's lots of green on this guy. Girl? I can't tell. As they approach my location even further, I almost collapse on the spot. That can't be... No. It can't. That's not...

"Who's there?" A strong voice cuts through the air almost as powerfully as the sound of a sword being ripped out of its sheath. So I'm now aware that this person dressed in green is a: a man, and b: fully armed - but if he was talking in the first place, it's definitely not who I think it is. I throw myself behind the tree, cursing at myself for knocking over an acorn in my haste. The noise of the acorn hitting the soil at my feet is like a trigger for him, and he turns directly to my tree, instantly recognizing my presence.

"Come out, I can see you," he says, far less authoritatively. His voice is... actually pretty calming for speaking words with such underlying threats. I slowly peep out from the tree, eyes squinted shut. Once I'm finally in plain sight of him, I crack open an eye, and my jaw drops.

A boy - not a man, really; he doesn't look much older than me - is standing before me apprehensively. His hair is a dirty, sandy blonde, and it hangs just past his ears in the back, with his bangs in front messily falling almost over his eyes. His face is sculpted with precision: thin nose, angled brows, and chiseled jaw. His ears are pointed, and a small blue earring hangs onto his left earlobe. But his eyes are just... wow. They're the color of the oceans, shining almost with sincerity despite the expression on his face that suggests otherwise.

He's dressed from head to toe in quite familiar green armor, but the sword in his hand is what really gives it away. Its hilt is purple, green accents crossing up the handle, and just before the blade it splits into a pair of steel wings, adorned with a golden gem at the center. I don't have to look at it for long to know that it's the Master Sword. This can't be real. Something like this doesn't just happen.

"Give me your dagger," I say quickly, deciding I need to make sure that I'm not in the midst of a fantasy. He's taken aback by my choice of words, though, eyebrows lowering in alert. That's not him. It can't be him.

"Why? You gonna try to kill me with it?" He puts his sword back in its sheath and reaches for the dagger in his belt.

"No," I respond, trying to reason with him. "I need to check something. I promise I won't hurt a hair on your head." He reluctantly agrees and hands me the blade, placing his hand back on the hilt of his sword, just in case. I bring the knife to my thumb and cut a tiny slit in the pad. I hiss at the contact, bringing my now red thumb to my lips in attempts to get rid of the small bubble of blood that pools at the wound. It hurts like a bitch, though. So I couldn't be dreaming if I'm in pain at all.

Hold on... I'm not dreaming.

I drop the dagger on the ground in shock and sink slowly back behind the tree, eyes wide and breath heavy. He follows, shoving his knife back into his belt with a curious gleam in his eye. Now, it's finally hitting me, confirming both my wildest dream and my worst fear at the same time.

"L... Link?" I say, my eyes widened. He raises an eyebrow and steps back.

"How do you know my name?" he asks warily. So... it really is him. This is what he sounds like? It's... beautiful. "And who are you?"

"I probably know a lot more than I should," I tell him truthfully. I take in his appearance. I'd never actually imagined Link as a real person, but now that he's standing here in front of me...

"Who are you?" he asks again, trying his best to sound forceful.

"I'm, um, Ebony." He raises an eyebrow again.

"That sounds a bit like-"

"Epona? Your horse? I know. I get that a lot." Should I have told him that? Is this going to mess up his mind? Will it mess up Hyrule? I really shouldn't start some sort of butterfly effect here.

Link squints at me, cocking his head to the side in wonder. "How do you-"

"I told you, I probably know a lot more than I should." He almost looks afraid of me as he steps back even more.

"What are you that you know so much about me?" He almost reaches for his sword again, but retracts.

"Well," I start. Should I tell him? He does deserve to know. But could this mess up every Zelda game in existence? "I'm not from here."

"Where are you from?"

"A different universe, I think. Definitely not Hyrule."

"If you're from a different universe, how do you know about Hyrule, and about me, and about Epona?" He nearly laughs in disbelief, setting his hands on his hips.

"What can I do to prove to you I'm not Hyrulean?" I ask. He shrugs.

"I don't know, I've never met anyone not from Hyrule." I then remember that I left my iPhone in the back pocket of my jeans. I go to reach for it and...

Still there. I take it out and dangle it in front of him. His eyes glaze over in amazement. "What is that?" he asks, reaching out to touch it as if it could bite him.

"It's called an iPhone, and it's something people use in my universe to communicate. And the reason I know you is because of this." I open my photos and scroll through my camera roll to find a picture of Link from Skyward Sword. He raises an eyebrow, staring incredulously at a photo of himself on a loftwing.

"Why am I on your shiny box-thing?"

I inhale a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "Um, In my world, you're not real. You're in something called a video game, which is basically a game that you can play on a TV, which is just a larger version of my iPhone." His eyes search mine for any lies, but he fails to find any. "There's this company back in my world called Nintendo."

"Nin... tendo?" he repeats slowly, as if the word tastes strange in his mouth.

"Yeah. Nintendo makes video games, and they're really popular." I scroll through some of my other pictures of Mario and Lucina. Link watches in amazement. "There's one franchise they own, and it's one of their most popular, and it's called the Legend of Zelda." I wait for his reaction.

"So, you're saying that in your universe, Zelda is famous?"

"Well, you're more famous than her, you're the main character." He looks utterly confused. "Using what's called a controller," I model with my hands the shape of a controller and pretend to play a game on it, "the person playing the game can press buttons and move analog sticks to move you around as you go on quests to defeat crazy bosses and save Zelda. Well, sometimes you save Zelda. Well, most of the time you save Zelda." He takes a few moments to process this. Then, he chuckles.

"But I'm not fake, I'm standing right here," he says as if it was obvious.

"That's why I was so taken aback when I saw you, because back in my world, you are fake." He ponders this for a second, face morphing back into that focused expression that he had already done a few too many times in the past few minutes. After presumably going through all his options and trying to find a way to call me a liar, he sighs, placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

"The only reason I'm believing you is because I don't see how you can come up with a story like that one if these video games don't exist here." He starts walking up the trail, but I'm still too in shock to use my legs. After getting a few yards away, he turns back with a smile tugging at his mouth. "Aren't you coming?"

Did I want to go with Link?

Hell yes I did.

I run to catch up with him. "So why are you here?" he asks, looking down at me. It's at this point I notice that he towers over me - not by much, but still by a few inches.

"I honestly don't know. I mean, the last thing I remember was being in my room back on Earth, and I had just turned seventeen and Din, Nayru, and Farore came to me through my window and told me something like this would happen and I didn't believe them because I thought I was dreaming, then I just... fell asleep. And I woke up here."

"The Goddesses?" He looks shocked. "What would they want with you?"

"I don't know. I keep asking myself that same question. I was just playing Wind Waker and out of nowhere I get this text from an unknown number that just says 'Hylia,' and not much later these little floating lights come at me from all directions and tell me I'm the incarnation of Hylia, but I don't trust a word they say because look at me - do I really look like the creator of this universe to you?" Link looks at me worriedly.

"The Goddesses are never wrong, Ebony," he tells me. "If they think you're the incarnation of Hylia, you're the incarnation of Hylia. That's as simple as it is." Link's words seem to seep into the depths of my mind. It can't be that simple... can it?

"But why would they send me here? It's all just so confusing." My migraine returns with a vengeance, and I grab at my head, shutting my eyes tightly.

"Are you okay?" Link asks me.

"I just have a really bad headache. It's nothing serious. I'm fine, promise." I smile at him to cover up anything he might think.

"Are you sure? I can always take you to an infirmary if you need me to," he says, genuinely concerned.

"No need, I'll get over it," I assure him. He still doesn't believe me, or so says the cautious look on his face, but he doesn't argue further.

"I think the Goddesses need you to do something for them. It's not every day they bring a normal person from a different universe to Hyrule." Is he seriously just going to agree with everything the Goddesses say?

"But what would they want with me? I'm not Hylia, I can guarantee you." He chuckles, and even if I am a bit annoyed with him it's one of the loveliest sounds I've ever heard. His calm, collected tone makes his voice resonate in some fantastic way. I still don't think it's sunk in that I'm actually listening to someone speak who, up until this point, I didn't even know had a voice in the first place.

"Ebony, I don't think you understand," he says. "You think the Goddesses, creators of this whole world, brought you here from a different dimension for absolutely no reason? You're out of your mind."

"It's not that, I just think they got the wrong girl. I'm not anything special; my only talent is video games. No way can I rule over an entire world of people."

"Like I said, the Goddesses are never wrong. If they know it's you, it's you. I'm sorry to break it to you this way, but I'm going to have to say you're here for a reason, and it's more than just becoming the ruler of this place."

"But you're the Hero of Time, that's what you always think. Well, of course, I wouldn't know, considering the fact that you never talk in the games, and-"

"I never talk? I talk more than anyone I know, these game people are crazy." I laugh and he smiles. "But in all honesty, we're going to need to pay a visit to Zelda if we want to find out what's going on." I stop walking, my jaw slack. After realizing I'm not following him anymore, he turns to me. "What's wrong?"

"You mean, I'm going to meet Zelda. As in, Princess Zelda." He nods like the idea is obvious, and I start to squeal like a little girl on Christmas. This could not get any better. Well, I guess it could, considering I was brought to a completely different world without much of a warning, but... still. After draining most of my energy in that little episode, I tiredly bring my hands up to my face to rub my eyes, but Link catches my left wrist before I get the chance to rub them at all.

"What's this?" he asks. I look down at my hand and there's... a Triforce symbol on it. No, there isn't, there's not.

"A Triforce? I don't know. Why is there a Triforce on my hand?"

"But it looks weird. Is it upside down? No, it's definitely right side up." He pulls his hand over to match with mine and sure enough, they're not identical. But it's an almost invisible difference that makes it noticeable. "Why does yours have another Triforce inside of it?" I have to squint at my hand to see the nearly skin colored, mini Triforce inside of the inner triangle.

"Link, this is weird." I start to panic. I walk around in circles, fanning my face and breathing deeply.

"Stop, Ebony, calm down." He grabs my shoulders and sits me on a nearby rock. "Look. I have no idea what that thing on your hand is, but that's exactly why we're going to Zelda, to sort this whole thing out. Just don't die on me while we're on our way." He's holding my hand now, rubbing the Triforce with his thumb. I almost want to believe he's trying to smudge it off, as if it were just permanent marker, but the emblem stays. I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that it does.

"It's all just too much," I say quietly, letting a tear escape. "I was just waiting for my mom to get home and then these Goddesses visit me and now I'm here and you're here and you're supposed to be in a video game, not right in front of me, and apparently I'm Hylia, and... and..." Before I can say anything else, Link is hugging me and letting me cry into his shoulder.

"It's okay, it'll be okay. We can fix this, and you can go home, alright?" I look up from his shoulder and his blue eyes are boring into mine - caring, soothing. I had never expected anything like this to ever happen, but now that it has, I guess I don't have much of a choice but to go along with it. I nod, and he lifts me off the rock so that I'm standing. "We'll just get to Zelda and you can go home."

He leads me for another couple of miles with his arm around my shoulder, comforting me. His hand is slowly gliding up and down my arm, moving in a repetitive gesture that is able to ease the troubled thoughts in my head. I've finally recovered from my little event earlier, and now, after a distance I probably haven't walked in one sitting for a long time, my feet are beginning to hurt. "Are we even near close?" I ask him.

"We should be there around twilight, I think." His answer causes me to think back to Twilight Princess, and the image of a small imp is plastered in my mind.

"Wait." We stop. "Where's Midna?" I ask.

"I haven't seen her in a while. You know her, too?"

"She's in one of the games I used to play. And unlike you, she actually speaks," I joke. He puts his hands up in defense.

"Hey! Not my fault these game makers made me mute," he replies. It soon hits me that I'm actually hearing Link talk. No one, well, at least anyone from Earth, has ever heard his voice. And now that I have, I'm glad I did. It's nothing short of incredible.

I take out my phone and thank God that my battery is still fully charged. I check my front left pocket, and... Bingo! My headphones are still there. Not daring to let Link hear my conversation, I plug the headphones in to call my mom. Since he's a few feet ahead of me, he doesn't notice a single move I'm making.

I dial her number, and it goes straight to voicemail. Well obviously, my head says, you're in a different dimension, you have no reception. I sigh and put everything back where it was, but not without Link looking back at me and seeing the tangled cords being shoved into my pocket. "What are those things? I've never seen them before." I chuckle and take them out once more, trying to untangle them as I speak.

"They're called headphones, or earbuds, and they go inside your ear like this," I pick up one of the ends and put it in my ear, and Link does the same with the other. "Then, you plug this little thingy into your phone, and the sound only comes out of the earbuds and not the speaker." I open my music and play a random song for him, and not caring what it is, he's mesmerized.

"That is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," he tells me. "I want a pair!" He whines at me, and I just laugh.

"Trust me. If you had a pair of these, I don't think you'd be the main character of another Zelda game."

"Why not?" He looks offended.

"Because Link isn't supposed to have earbuds and Link isn't supposed to know about Earth and Link isn't supposed to know anything about me or my world."

"You seem to have panic attacks a lot. You sure you're fine?" He puts a hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"I never had a panic attack in my life back on Earth but now that I'm here, I'm just so overwhelmed by everything and the fact that I'm actually not dreaming." The knight looks at me, an unreadable glint in his azure eyes.

"You really are something, aren't you?" he mumbles with a shy smile, but it's gone as quickly as it appears. "Anyways, we're about three miles out from the castle, can you manage?" I nod, not wanting to cause more trouble for him than I already had.

We begin walking again and I'm soon struck with another question. "Link?"

"Hmm?"

"What were you doing? You know, before you found me?" He looks down at the dirt path.

"Nothing, really. I was actually on my way to the castle in the first place, but you're giving me an even better reason to head back now. So don't think you're being a bother to me, because I can tell that's what you're thinking about and I'm glad to help, honestly." I send him a smile that he returns and for the first time today I feel... happy. Not nervous, but carefree, as if there weren't a problem in the world.

I start to ask him about Hylian life, and on the way he shares stories, some of which I've never read and some of which I know of but am too nice to stop him from talking. I don't know why, but being in Hyrule with Link just makes the terrifying trip not as terrifying. He's such an easygoing person, I can't help but feel the same way. For those three miles, I am glad to be in Hyrule.

When we reach the Castle Town, all I can see is the towering palace in front of me. I gape at it, my jaw slack. I'd seen it for the past mile or so, but up close, in detail... it's mesmerizing. Link laughs at my expression and takes my hand to guide me to the entrance. "If you like the outside, you won't believe the inside," he says, and I don't want to wait any longer. As he reaches the door, the guard immediately recognizes him but questions me.

"And who is this maiden, Link?" the guard asks. I nearly cower, but Link covers for me.

"She's with me. We have an appointment with Princess Zelda." The guard nods in approval and lets me in, but reluctantly. As soon as we cross the bridge, the large wooden doors are opened and there sits one of the most beautiful girls I had ever laid eyes on. She is dressed in her Twilight Princess wear and it's like stepping straight into the game. But... isn't that what I had done already?

"Link! You're here. And you brought Ebony, thank you." She hurries us in with an ushering of her hands, and I'm being dragged by Link through the gorgeous scenery. Even if I had seen the inside of this castle before, I would have never thought I'd be standing in it, ever. My thoughts didn't even drift onto how Zelda knew my name, simply because I didn't care. The look of this place had already stolen all of my thoughts.

(4/10/17)


	3. An Adventure Ensues

"Ebony," Zelda calls. I turn towards her voice, dilated eyes gliding over her regal form resting on the throne, and give her my full attention. "You were sought out by the Goddesses to fulfill a quest, is this correct?" I shrug.

"I'm not sure about the quest part, but I know they visited me in my room last night," I tell her. She rests an index finger on her lips, staring fixedly at a point on the ground.

"There is grave danger overlooking Hyrule. The Goddesses themselves are at risk and they need their creator to stop the evil lurking around this land. That is why they called upon you, the true incarnation of the Goddess Hylia, to rise to the occasion, bring down the peril, and save all of Hyrule."

"Me? Saving an entire dimension of people? I don't think so." My tone is more condescending than I intend it to be, but thankfully, Zelda seems to pay no mind, instead opting to further encourage my participation in... whatever this is.

"You have done so before, Goddess. Many times you have defeated the great evil of Demise and restored tranquility to our land. The last time, however, was hundreds of years ago."

It's at this point that I decide to suck it up and believe Zelda. She's Zelda, for God's sake, and she's talking to me. In person. And, considering everything that's happened today, I don't think I'm dreaming anymore. "So, how exactly did this evil thing happen?"

"I assume you are aware of the Legend of Skyloft, correct?" I nod. "The Demon Lord Ghirahim has somehow broken free from his bondage and is now out to seek revenge on the one who chained him." I turn to Link, who now looks... scared? His eyes are wide, and his head whips upwards to lock on Zelda, dark eyebrows furrowed and a frown evident in his features. "There is no evidence on how exactly he escaped, but it is assumed his first task is to take down the Goddesses, then the Hero, then Hylia herself. Don't you see, Ebony? You were in danger this whole time. If we hadn't brought you here, you'd still be on Earth, unarmed to fight for your life with Demise. At least now you still have a chance. If you weren't here right now, Hyrule would be nothing but history, sunken into the ground with nothing to live for." For reasons I can't comprehend, my fight-or-flight instinct is telling me to fight now, contrary to... well, the rest of my life, to be honest.

"What do I need to do?" I ask quickly.

"There are a set of trials you must go through to collect items hidden throughout Hyrule for thousands of years. If Demise gets hold of Din, Farore, and Nayru, they will cease to exist, as will my spirit, as I live through them."

Link interjects. "Zelda, you can't possibly be putting yours and the Goddesses lives on the line just because she's Hylia. She's just a normal girl from a completely different world who has no idea what's even going on." The adrenaline that had been building up is now coursing through me at an alarming pace.

"That is why the Goddesses have chosen you, Link, the Hero of Legend, to aid Hylia on her quest to defeat Demise. You must promise on your life that you will protect her and keep her safe from all harm. As the Goddess Hylia, Ebony has the powers of all three pieces of the Triforce, which is why there is an imprint in the middle of her hand. The more she gets injured, those powers will start to fade, and-"

"But why?" Link asks.

"Hyrule is not her known world. Although she is here physically, mentally, and emotionally, her bonds will always be to Earth, and if she gets fatally hurt, she will begin to lose her Goddess abilities. You must not only keep Hylia safe, Link, but also Ebony." Zelda's words cut off my short-lived adrenaline rush, and now a new feeling begins to seep its way under my skin: fear. Fatally hurt? I could die here?

"Listen to me, Ebony, incarnation of the Goddess Hylia. You must never push too far. This entire land is resting in your hands, and if you fail to reach your true form and defeat Demise, Hyrule will not survive, either. And..." Her voice lowers in volume as her eyes lower to the ground. "I didn't want it to have it come down to this, but you're not going back to Earth." What?

"Why not?" I'm quickly angered by Zelda.

"You have two choices: you can fail to complete your mission and die at the hands of Ghirahim and Demise, or you can reach your true form and take down Demise, saving Hyrule. However, once you reach this form, you cannot change back, and you will live in the heavens with the Goddesses until it comes time for you to pass on your spirit to another, who will watch and protect the land." The boy beside me, now infuriated at the concept of me trying to defeat a god, rushes up to the throne and takes Zelda by the arm.

"Why can't she change back? This isn't fair for her, she was pulled here against her will!" Link is shouting at Zelda now.

"Because, Link. Hylia is sworn to guard Hyrule no matter what may happen. If she were to change back, there would be no other way of easily getting her to this form again should another battle occur. As Princess, I cannot let that happen. Therefore, Hylia will remain in the heavens for as long as she shall live. That's the end of it, Link." Zelda looks worn out, but I can tell she has good intentions. I can see why she has the Triforce of Wisdom.

"Zelda?" I ask slowly. She turns to me. "What exactly do we have to do?"

"You can't seriously be going through with this, Ebony," Link pleads.

"It's either me or the entire kingdom of Hyrule. And if I am somehow Hylia, I'm not going to let down every single person that looks up to me. I'd rather do this and fail than never try at all. And if I do defeat Demise? Well, I guess I'd just have to suck it up and live without my family. As depressed as that might make me, I'm willing to do it to save you, and Zelda, and every other person here who at this point doesn't have a clue that their world is being threatened. Life isn't going to be fair, Link. But you can't just sit there and do nothing. You have to fight back. If I could go back home, I would. But if it means putting you at risk, I wouldn't be able to live with myself seeing your entire dimension collapse. There's no reason I shouldn't at least try, so that's why I'm accepting this mission."

Link is silent after that as he walks back over to me, a strange expression on his face. His eyes are hooded in curiosity, eyebrows pressed downwards. His lips are opened slightly, and the bridge of his nose has turned a light pink color, fading out across his cheeks. His arms are crossed in front of his chest tightly, but his hands aren't in fists. Instead, they're lying gently and peacefully on his upper arms. I can't tell what's going through his mind right now, but I don't think I've ever wanted to know something more.

"You have shown great courage accepting this challenge and putting yourself at risk to save Hyrule. It is something a true Goddess would do. Now I will tell you your mission. You must seek out seven items that will provide you with the tools you need to reach your true form. The Wisdom of Power, the Power of Courage, and the Courage of Wisdom are the first three you must find. These are simply spiritual enhancers that will strengthen you as Hylia and help reach your final form. The last four can be found around the depths of Hyrule and will be trials for you to complete. I will send you to someone, and that someone will be your guide on the quest to find these. They are the Flame of Din, the Wave of Nayru, the Flower of Farore, and the Strength of Hylia. You must acquire all of these items in order to rise to the heavens and defeat Demise. But you must be quick. Ghirahim is already planning his next move, and it will include harming you. Always stay a few steps ahead of him, and be prepared for anything. I wish you good luck on your journey. May the Goddess Hylia live through you to help you conquer Demise." Zelda rises from her chair, walks into a corridor, and she's gone just like that.

Before I can process what I'm supposed to do, Link has his arms around me. "I swear... I swear I will do anything to protect you, Ebony," he whispers. "If you really are Hylia, I can say without hesitation that your life comes before mine and I will put mine at risk to save yours. Just... just be careful, okay?" I pull away and nod at him apprehensively, too shocked at what I'd just accepted to do to cry. His blue eyes are close to watering, and his lip quivers. "Don't die on me."

The door to the corridor opens again, and Zelda re-enters with a small piece of paper. "This is the location of the one who will guide you. Link, you know where it is; take her there. As for you, Ebony, I want you to have this." There's nothing in her hands, and I'm confused. "You adapted to two of the Triforce abilities as Goddess when you accepted this mission, courage to stand up to a friend, and wisdom to know right from wrong and put yourself at risk for others. For that, I give you the Courage of Wisdom." Zelda hugs me, and with it comes a strange sensation bubbling around my heart, but I can't tell what it is. When she pulls back, though, there is a faint turquoise light floating just outside of my body. Did Zelda just...

"What is this?" I ask, reaching a hand up to touch it, which doesn't work very well considering its intangibility.

"On your journey, you will encounter many dangers and fears. On the way, you must develop not only the power, wisdom, and courage of Hylia, but a combination of them. For showing me true Wisdom and Courage, I placed a bit of Farore's and Nayru's soul into your heart. It will travel with you, and when the time is right, transform you."

"If it's such an exclusive gift, how do I get the other two?"

"You are destined to gain all three naturally on your travels. Looks to me that you got the first one," she tells me, smiling. "You're well on your way to reincarnating as Hylia's true form, Ebony." As she's about to walk away again, she stops herself and turns back, looking between Link and I. "Just... don't fall in love with Link. We all know he's a sucker for blondes." She laughs and I do the same, and it's as if a huge weight was lifted off my chest. Link doesn't seem to take much notice to Zelda's statement. Maybe she tells this to everyone who comes in here. I guess it's just a regular thing.

"We need to go now. Thank you so much, Zelda," Link says. They hug, and I notice that it's far different from the way he had been hugging me previously. It just seems friendly. There's no tight grip, no hands gripping at the back of her dress. I decide to equate that to desperation though, on both our parts. Not long after they detach from each other, Link pouts. "Hey, where's my Courage of Wisdom?"

"You're not a Goddess, Link."

About an hour later, we're back outside of Castle Town, not far from where we first met. We had really just been wandering aimlessly around for the past while, and I would've tried getting us back on task, but Link refused to let me see what was on the paper Zelda gave him. "Wanna see something cool?" he asks out of nowhere. I shrug, then nod, not really caring because my feet are killing me. He whistles, and without even thinking it through I know exactly what's coming.

"You did not, Link. You really did not just do that." He smirks as a giant, red bird flies down from the sky.

"They still stay up there, after all this time." I can't believe what I'm seeing. It's a red loftwing. But it's not just any red loftwing, it's Link's. His crimson feathers wrap down his backside, and he has a white underbelly. His wings fade into a bright flash of lavender and yellow, the same color as his eyes. He opens his bill and squawks loudly, causing Link to flinch, jump forward, and tame the thing. "Easy there, boy. She's a friend."

"Are we going to Skyloft or something? But I thought it fell to the ground right after you fought Demise for the first time." I'm seriously confused now.

"It did. Doesn't mean I can't take you on a fly around the sky. Plus, Skyloft is pretty far away. Its easiest to travel by loftwing." He easily slides on his bird, but I can't say I do the same. "Come on, Ebony, it's just a loftwing." Yes, Link. A loftwing that isn't supposed to exist. Still, considering that I figure I'll have to face a wide array of fears while I'm here, I slowly climb on the bird, and to my surprise it caws quietly. "He likes you," Link says, but before I can reply it's up in the air and I'm almost falling off.

"LINK!" I scream, and I grip the loftwing's feathers tightly. We're still going up, and I start to regret getting on the red beauty. "You can't just throw me on a bird and think I can survive without falling off! You're so fu-" The sight before me stops my words, and my thoughts.

The loftwing has shifted into a cruising position, and Link and I are now above the clouds. It's a vast, open landscape of blue, stretching for miles and miles. There are still a few islands in the sky, most of which were uninhabited in Skyward Sword. However, I can, from my seat behind Link, see the famous Lumpy Pumpkin, and I laugh casually. "What is it, Ebony?"

"The Lumpy Pumpkin. I've never seen it before," I say in amazement. There's an empty void in the clouds far beyond our position, and I wager that's where Skyloft used to lay.

"I don't think you've seen any of this before," he replies, and lets his loftwing hover. "It's the most beautiful part of Hyrule: up here in the sky where no one knows you are. Zelda and I are the last ones to have loftwings, so it can get pretty lonely up here sometimes. I'll call my loftwing over just so it doesn't feel alone. Of course, it has Zelda's, but this little guy gets pretty sensitive." I move my arms from the bird's now flaking feathers and around Link's waist. I notice that he shivers, but remains calm. "Should we head to Skyloft now?" he asks, turning in his position to look me in the eyes.

Part of me just wants to get this over with so I can get back home, but the other, more lustful side of me believes differently. You're riding on a loftwing with the Link, it tells me, don't screw this up. I choose to go against the latter and nod into Link's back.

Landing can sometimes be more scary than taking off. That's how it is in planes, and it's no different with birds. Once we're hovering above the general area where Skyloft is - meaning that I can look down and see the statue of Hylia - Link hands me his sailcloth, dusty and unused. It's different from the one used in Skyward Sword, but the design alone doesn't matter much to me.

"Go," he says. "Just jump, and deploy it about twenty to thirty feet from the ground. When you're done, just toss it back up and the wind will carry it to me. I'll meet you down there, okay?" He takes my hand wrapped around his waist in his own, rubbing it just as he did earlier today. I reluctantly take the sailcloth and take one last look at Link before letting myself fall off his crimson loftwing.

The air feels free, and I am having the time of my life skydiving. When Skyloft comes into view, I remember my task and whip out the sailcloth. Unsurprisingly, it acts as a parachute and doesn't allow me to fall. What is surprising, though, is the fact that I don't horribly screw something up, and that I land on top of the bazaar without a scratch on me. I let go of the sailcloth and watch it float up through a quick draft of wind to Link, who looks to be the size of an ant. He jumps off with incredible expertise, falling through the air with spins and loud laughter. It doesn't take long for him to reach me. In fact, he grabs me with one arm and pulls me down onto the land with him. The sailcloth is neatly folded and stuffed back in his tunic. "See? Not too bad," he teases, and I slap his arm.

Well, this is Skyloft. As beautiful as it is, I can't help but think that it's much darker here than it was up in the sky. Must be the trees, I say to myself. "I think at this point you know where we're going," Link tells me, and starts up the staircase to the Goddess Statue I had only ever seen on my TV screen. Are we going in the Goddess Statue?

"But what about the vines hanging from the walls? I'm not really much of a climber." I look down solemnly as he approaches a wall of plant.

"I'll help you up. Go," he says, and lifts me up onto the branches. I can't say if it's uncomfortable to have Link's hands on my ass, but he doesn't seem to notice the act he's doing so I don't question it. He shoves me up a few more times, and finally I reach the other end of the vines. Dropping on the floor, Link approaches me with a smug grin. "Tired?" he asks.

"Never."

A few minutes later we're standing at the entrance to the Goddess Statue, and if I knew anything about Zelda games, I knew exactly who was in here. Link takes my hand and guides me in, and I notice it's identical to when he came here last. Three stones of map are slid into a puzzle, and there is a Goddess Cube sitting on the floor with a beautiful sword sitting in it. It looks like it's made of diamond, a turquoise shimmer glinting off of the blade. "Are you going to pull it out of the block?" he asks me, motioning me towards the sword.

"Me? I thought you would be the one with the Goddess Sword."

"Ebony, this is your fight. I know it might not seem like it right now, but there's something going on out there in this vast stretch of land and you have to be the one to stop it. I'm just here to protect you, not fight for you. You're the Goddess, you can do it," he encourages. I swallow the lump in my throat and take a step towards the Goddess Sword. As soon as I touch it, it begins glowing. In this moment I decide to pull the sword, and what I see before me couldn't have made me any more amazed.

It's Fi.

There she is, dancing around in her purple and blue cloak. Her entire being seems to gloss over with a metallic feel, and her face has no distinct features but still resembles the face of a young woman.  She looks at me and is taken aback.

"I calculate that there is a 78% chance that I am in the presence of a Goddess. Welcome, Hylia. I have been sleeping in this sword for thousands of years, waiting for your return." My return? When was I here before?

"I was never..." I can't find the words to say, but Fi helps me.

"You were here many long years ago, in a past life. It has been destined that Hylia was to return, so I have not given up hope." She looks past me and sees the man clad in green. "Master Link... It has been so long."

Link steps forward next to me and addresses the sword spirit. "I've missed you, Fi," he says, and that's all it takes for something inside of me to click. I remember Skyward Sword, and how Zelda was Hylia's incarnation. How couldn't I have figured it out before?

"I have a question," I say, "to both you and Link." Fi nods and looks at me deeply. "Why am I Hylia? Shouldn't Zelda have her soul?" They stare pointedly at me. "Sorry if this is abrupt, I just... figured it would still be her."

"After putting the royal family in such trouble time and time again, Hylia decided to put her spirit into that of a human rather than into Zelda," Fi tells me. "It is mainly to protect the royal family. However, there are things that do tie you to Hyrule's royalty, even if you are human."

"What are these things?" I ask, still confused.

Link speaks up. "Technically, you're not really human. Your spirit is that of Hylia's, but you were born on Earth to protect you from Demise. The Goddesses brought you here, I assume, to stop the danger only you can."

"So these entire seventeen years, I've actually just been a Goddess this whole time?"

"Spiritually, yes," Fi answers. "But physically, no. Your ties to the royal family go only as far as all of Zelda's incarnations, and Hylia herself."

"So, Link, you're the chosen Hero, but is Zelda still the Princess of Destiny, then?"

"She will be as long as the Triforce is on the back of her hand," Link assures me. "Trust us, Zelda isn't going anywhere. Your Earth contraptions are safe."

"So all that's different is that Zelda isn't Hylia's incarnation anymore? Everything else is the same."

"Yes," Fi says definitively. "Hylia sent herself to be reincarnated as Zelda, who went through temples to purify her body with Impa. She was asked to go into a long, deep sleep to protect herself and the Triforce from Demise. When Link defeated Demise, she was able to go about her life. Since then, the royal family has been going down through generations, and each Princess Zelda is awarded with the Triforce of Wisdom. Each Zelda has been entrusted with the spirit of Hylia but since Demise has not been a problem in Hyrule, it was never such a problem to use this spirit. After the fall of Ganondorf, Demise brought back a return and to protect the Hylian family, Hylia put her spirit inside that of a human on Earth so as to not bring down Hyrule. So, Zelda is still the same person. She is just not an incarnation of Hylia anymore."

"I think I get it," I say.

"Are we clear, then?" I nod. "It has been destined that you must find the Wisdom of Power, the Power of Courage, the Flame of Din, the Wave of Nayru, the Flower of Farore, and the Strength of Hylia." It always amazes me at to how Fi knows and remembers all of this information in spite of the fact that she's in hibernation for centuries at a time.

"So where should we go first?" I ask them.

"Zelda told us that you would find the spiritual enhancers naturally, so it would be best to start looking for the items," Link suggests.

"That would be wise. It is highly likely that we will find the Flower of Farore first if we travel straight east, as there are many forests escalating in that direction," Fi determines.

"Then that's where we should go," I tell them. "Fi, are you going to travel inside the Sword?" With a curt nod, she pixilates inside of it.

"Yes, Mistress Ebony. Now let us get going."

(4/17/17)


	4. The Trek East

It's been an hour of walking east with Link, and neither of us have been talking much. My feet are killing me, but I don't show it because I want to reach this flower as quickly as possible. I've spent the hour pondering just how I got here, and what my mom must be thinking. Does she assume I've been kidnapped? Ran away? I don't know what would be the most probable answer to that. Fi's been silent, which is... unusual. Link's also been quiet, only speaking to ask me how I'm holding up, to which I answer that I'm fine.

"We're getting pretty close to the forest," Link informs, and I can see silhouettes of trees far, far ahead. When I don't answer immediately, he turns to me with a smile. "Can you make it?"

"We couldn't have just flown to the forest? I mean, I know you're used to walking but all of my transportation is in a car and I feel like-"

"What's a car?" Oh yeah. This is Hyrule.

"Um, you know how you ride Epona to get places?" He nods. "Well, a car is basically a horse but it's not living and runs on gas." He looks confused, furrowing his eyebrows and frowning awkwardly. 

"Is it shaped like a horse?"

"No, no. If I had Internet here, I'd pull up a picture of one, but-"

"What's Internet?" Link interrupts.

"I don't really know how to explain the Internet. It's basically thousands of millions of things called web pages that go on a screen. I can reach the Internet on my phone through here," I point at my Safari icon, "but I guess since I'm in Hyrule and not on Earth it doesn't work." When I then look at my Photos app, I suddenly get the idea of showing him a car, and pull up a picture of MarioKart. "Okay, see the thing this guy is riding in?" Link nods, looking fascinated. "That's called a go-kart."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Now imagine that go-kart, but about ten times bigger, and it can fit up to eight people in it." Link shifts his gaze away from my phone in thought. Soon, he gets an image.

"That's probably a lot easier to use than Epona," he says.

"I wouldn't go as far as to say easier, because a car is really complex and you have to be licensed to drive one, but it does get around faster. Most cars can get up to a hundred and twenty miles an hour, but a lot of people driving them only hit seventy or eighty at the most."

"Wow, your world sounds cool. You should take me there sometime." Link's words, as positive as they are, hit home, hard.

"Um... you can't go, for two reasons." He looks up from the grass at his feet. "One, you don't exist in my world. I'm pretty sure anyone that walked on Earth with signature pointy ears wouldn't be unnoticed." He hangs his head in shame as I reach up to flick the tips of his ears. "And two, I can't even go back at this point. And if I live on Earth, there's no way you'd be able to..." The things I say simply make things worse, and I begin to tear up again, this time out of homesickness. 

Link notices. "Hey, Ebony?" I look back up at him, a single tear running down my cheek. He wipes it away with his thumb, then cups his hand on my face. It's impossible to not feel the heat rising to my face from his touch. "You'll go back home. We'll find a way." I dare to look into his eyes, and I see that his face is only a few inches from mine. He gives me an encouraging smile, and I return a smaller one, already feeling a bit better. He pulls me into a hug and I hold him tightly, tighter than I've ever held anyone before. "I promise," he whispers into my neck. 

"Who's this?"

A high-pitched voice pulls us apart and I look down at the maker of it: a small, masked imp with a red and yellow eye and fiery hair. Midna. "I've never seen you before," she says, getting closer to my face. I back up a little. Midna turns to Link. "Seriously, boy, how much happens when I'm not here? You're on another quest and you found a girlfriend? Crazy." Link blushes wildly and I feel myself doing the same.

"She's not my girlfriend, Midna," Link tells her quickly, falling over his words. 

"Your cheeks say differently." Midna takes another look at me. "She doesn't look Hylian to me."

"I'm not." The imp's face shows her confusion. "I'm from Earth."

"Earth," she repeats. "Hey Link, isn't Earth where Hylia sent her-" She stops; takes another glance at me. "Oh..."

"Midna, we don't even know if I am Hylia yet." Even with her mask on I can tell she doesn't get it. "Well, I mean, the Goddesses think I'm Hylia and Zelda thinks I'm Hylia, but-"

"You went to see Zelda and you never told me?" she yells at the boy beside me.

"I didn't know where you were! I can't just reach into my shadow and grab you, you know," Link fires back. "And can't you hear inside there, anyways? You would've known where we were."

"I was dusting off my collection! It's soundproof in there, you know. Could've at least knocked. Geez." She turns around, muttering incoherent curses at Link, who's chuckling softly. "By the way, how long have I been gone?"

"Um, maybe a little less than a day, why?" Link responds.

"I don't know, because I wanted to know?" She says this as if it's obvious, and I can't help but giggle. "Got something against me, girl? I'm a good tussler, hope you know that." Midna pauses, curiosity peaking in her eye. "Hey, if you know who I am, do you still have your memory from your last incarnation?"

"No, she doesn't. That's why we're going on this mission, because we need to get her home," Link answers.

"Well, actually," I begin, "I'm supposed to be here so I can transform into this Goddess or something like that and defeat Demise, but all I really want is to get back home." Midna nods understandingly.

"Well, what are we doing?" My sword glows and Fi materializes in front of her.

"We are searching for the Flower of Farore," she says simply.

"Okay, there are too many new people here, Link," Midna says, completely disregarding Fi's answer as she rubs her temples in an overwhelmed state. 

"That's Fi, and she lives in the Goddess Sword. She's our guide for this mission," I tell her.

"You know a lot about Hyrule if you've never been here."

"It's a really long story. I'll explain on the way to the forest." Fi goes back into the sword as Link and I turn back to the path.

"Woah!" Midna says in amazement. "You have the Triforce like Link? And it's even on your left hand! I thought it was only you, Zelda, and Ganon but I guess I was wrong!" Midna grabs my wrist and inspects my hand. "That's cool! There's like a little tiny Triforce in the middle of yours! Where'd that come from?"

"Zelda thinks it's because she's the Goddess," Link tells the imp. "She can apparently wield all three powers of Din, Nayru, and Farore: power, wisdom, and courage. But... everyone knows I'm the true chosen one here." He stands with his hands on his hips in pride, and I laugh.

"Hey, hero?" I say, getting his attention. "Don't get your tights in a twist." Midna completely stops hovering and starts rolling on the dirt in hysterics.

"Tights!" Midna shouts. "They're tights!"

"They are not tights!" Link yells, offended.

The next thirty minutes consist of me telling Midna about video games. As I'm telling her, I wonder if anyone from Nintendo had visited Hyrule and then decided to make the games based off his experiences. She's obsessed with my phone, but I tell her to use it sparingly because it's on eighty percent now. She reluctantly hands it over, asking if I'm any good at telling stories. 

"I'm not a good storyteller," I reply.

"But you have to know something," the imp insists.

"Of course I know them, but I just can't read them right." Midna shakes her head.

"Tsk tsk. If you're the Goddess, you need to know how to tell stories. It's a rule."

"It's not a rule, Ebony," Link whispers.

"Ebony? Is that your name?" I nod. 

"But I thought you were Hylia."

"She has Hylia's spirit in her. But she's not Hylia, at least not yet," Link informs.

"I can speak for myself, you know," I tell him.

"Hey, not my fault you get shaken up every time you mention-" I give him a death stare, and he shuts up. "Sorry."

We walk quite a ways more before the trees seem to envelop us. "Well, Ebony, welcome to Faron Woods." I take a look around, and see nothing but trees and butterflies, and the occasionally Kikwi in my peripherals. The scene is breathtaking, to say the least. And just as I'm taking in all of the beauty around me, Fi appears from my sword. Great. 

"Mistress Ebony, I calculate an 84% chance that the Flower of Farore is in these woods. I suggest we start looking for any sign of a Goddess Item." She goes back in the sword, and I turn to the boy on my left.

"Link, you know this place backwards and forwards with your eyes closed. You should have some idea as to where this thing is." He shakes his head.

"Even if I do know it, I've never heard of this Flower of Farore. There is a big flower a little ways north of here, but I doubt that's the actual thing we're looking for."

"Zelda said something about trials, right?" He nods slowly, remembering the Princess' words. "Then it might be in the temple?" Fi speaks but doesn't come out from the sword.

"I only calculate a 35% chance that the flower is inside the temple. However, I do sense the item somewhere north, so I suggest we head for the flower Master Link was speaking of." We begin to head north.

Link smirks. "What did I say?" He points to himself. "Chosen one."

"You know, sometimes I wish you really didn't talk," I say, returning his smirk. He can tell I am joking, but he pretends to be hurt, and scoffs.

"You haven't known me a day."

"Correction, if I may. I haven't heard you speak for a day. I've known you for nearly ten years." I pause. "Actually, I've known you for thousands of years." He rolls his eyes, smiles brightly, and stops the argument.

"You two are fighting like a married couple," Midna complains.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Link cries, but as convincing as it sounds, he's blushing like an idiot. "I've only known her for maybe seven or eight hours, Midna. I don't have a crush on her."

"I'm right here, guys." I laugh at their argument but shrug it off, knowing Link is supposed to be with Zelda in the end. Well, that's always been my assumption, at least. But if Link did have a crush on you, my conscience suggests, would you like him back? Maybe, I tell it.

Midna seems to not hear me. "All I'm saying is that you're acting like you're in love. I never said you actually were. So that makes you the defensive one."

"This is a stupid argument over a stupid thing. Just shut your mouth, Midna. Please." Link sighs as Midna returns to his shadow. "I'm really sorry about her, she can be a little, um, awkward and pushy at times."

"I played Twilight Princess, I know how she is." He runs a hand through his dirty blonde hair, and I notice only now that his fabled hero's garb is lacking its green hat. I guess it kept falling off in battle. Can't say I'm surprised. 

"I can assure you, Ebony, if she's bad in the games, she's worse here." Midna's head pops out from Link's shadow.

"I'm not dusting anymore, I can hear you now! Geez, you can be so rude to me when new girls are around." Her head dips back in.

It's not long before I hear a scream, but it's not a human scream. It sounds horribly familiar, and I know what's about to happen. "Bokoblins," Link says. "Get your sword out, I'll cover you." I reluctantly pull the Goddess Sword from its sheath, and Link is already in his fighting stance. You've done this before, Ebony, I tell myself, but this time it's you for real, not you with a controller.

The bokoblins swarm us, and Link is back to back with me. I remember the games and try to use various techniques to hit the enemies' weaknesses, and I guess it pays off. The twenty bokoblins that we were surrounded by are gone in less than a minute, and I'm already tired from this workout.

"You're left-handed, too?" Link asks me, his breathing unsteady.

"I've always been. I guess that's why the Triforce is on my left hand."

"Speaking of which," he begins, "why aren't our Triforces reacting to each other?" He brings up a good point, and it takes me a while to think of a plausible answer.

"Maybe it's because my Triforce comes from Hylia and yours comes from Farore. Possibly Hylia is completely separate from the other three Goddesses, and so yours will only react to Zelda's or Ganon's. Because now that you mention it, mine hasn't glowed at all, to your's or Zelda's." He thinks for a moment.

"That could be it." He looks back up at me. "But it's still a Triforce. Then again, it might be because mine is split, and it's looking for the other parts?"

"Could be. I do have the other two parts, though, so yours should be going crazy." He shrugs.

"I'll ask Zelda about it later. For now, let's get going."

We walk in silence for another ten minutes. It's not much of an awkward silence but one that's almost soothing. The bokoblins are gone, as far as I can see. All I hear is the wind blowing leaves from the tall, tall trees and rustling of bushes. I'm so in awe at the surroundings that I don't notice Link put his arm around my shoulders. The calming nature along with Link's affectionate gesture nearly make me fall asleep, and I yawn heavily.

"I think you're getting tired, Ebony," he teases.

"You don't say?" I respond, snuggling into his arm a bit closer. The wind in the trees is making the evening cold, even if it is summer.

"Don't worry, I can see it from here. We can rest once we make it up this hill." My tired legs force Link to support about half of my body weight as we climb the spiraling rise of land, but he doesn't seem to mind. Once we're up, he pulls over a log and sits me down on it. "I'm going to scope out the place. You can rest here." He walks back down the hill, leaving me alone in front of the biggest flower I'd ever seen in my life. It has large, gleaming purple petals and a massive amount of pollen coating the center of it. It's at least three feet tall, sprawling out across the hill. 

"Wow, it's so beautiful," I murmur to myself while yawning. I want to fall asleep but my adrenaline from the day is keeping me awake. Instead of laying down, I pull out my sword and look it over. The detailing on the hilt is far better than any animation it gets in a game, and I find myself looking at my reflection through the blade. "I don't have the face of a Goddess," I insult to myself. Over time, I've come to accept that the Goddesses are right and I could very well be Hylia. Their story makes sense, but I never thought it would be true at all. I hang my head down and resheath the sword, wondering about my family.

Are they worried about me? I'm sure worried about them. They must feel horrible. Where do they think I am? Certainly not in Hyrule, I assume. "No," I say simply. I will not cry, I repeat in my head. I've cried too much over my family today and I'm not going to allow myself to grieve any longer. I'm sixteen, and just a little while earlier I told my mom I'd be fine without her. My eyes water but I hold back the tears, not needing or wanting anyone's comfort.

I sit in silence until Link appears next to me again. "You're not asleep yet? I thought you would be," he says, sitting down on the log next to me.

"I guess I just have a little too much on my mind to sleep. I mean, less than a day ago I was just walking around my room, trying to feed my pets. So much has happened since then that really and truly shouldn't be." I'm over crying at this point, and the exhaustion only makes me more tired.

"You know, the more you think about all this, the more homesick you'll get. I just try to focus on what's happening now, because what you do now ultimately determines what you'll do later. And if you think about the present, you might find a way to get home," he tells me, putting his arm around me like he did just a short time ago.

"But Zelda said-"

"I don't care what Zelda said, and I don't care what your destiny says. You will find a way home, you hear me?" I nod and grip the side of Link's tunic for comfort. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have brought you here, and I wouldn't be saying this right now. You've been more important to me in this day alone than Midna has in my entire Twilight Realm journey." I chuckle as he whispers the last part. "And I refuse to let some fate decide what happens to you. It's your future, and you can choose what you do." During this time I've gone from holding onto him to full-on hugging him, and he's hugging me back with just as much effort. I let a few tears slip onto his shoulder but he just grips me tighter, showing more comfort than he already has.

"Thank you," I squeak. He rubs my back as I pull away from the hug and touch my forehead to his. Neither of us open our eyes, but rather sit in complete silence and hold each other in our arms. I can almost sense Midna popping out from Link's shadow to watch us, but I don't care at all. It's just Link and I.

Soon, Link has pulled out blankets for us to sleep under, and I end up laying under three, right next to Link for warmth. He has an arm draped around my waist and just from the touch I'm already beginning to feel sleep overpower my senses.

"You like her," I hear Midna say. Does she think I'm asleep?

"I told her I cared about her, not that I liked her," Link replies, though I can imagine his flushed face.

"But you like her, don't you?" I feel Link's chest convulse against my back in a quiet laugh as he raises his arm from me, I assume to shoo her away.

"Shut up," are the last words I hear from Link before his arm is back on me and I plummet into peaceful darkness.

(4/24/17)


	5. Meals, Petals, and Rocks

I awaken to the sound of crackling flames, and when I open my eyes the sun is shining into them. I quickly roll over to shield myself from the blinding light and see Link, fast asleep, still with his right arm falling limply on top of me. His eyelids are closed lazily and his lips are parted slightly, every once in a while letting a heavy breath escape.

"I made breakfast for you," Midna says. I jump at her presence. "Went out and killed a few squirrels all by myself. I know you haven't eaten in a while so you're going to need some substance." I prop myself up on my elbows, choosing not to disturb Link's sleep. I give a small smile to Midna, who hovers next to me. She sets our plates in front of us. The sight is marvelous. 

"You're a good cook," I tell her. She shrugs.

"I guess it's a natural talent I have." She looks back down at her squirrel. "I can tell you like him," she says, and I'm taken aback by her words.

"What makes you say that?" I try to cover up any kind of flush I may have on my face, but I can feel the heat anyways.

"Ever since I got here, you two have been all mushy. I mean, you're not even from the same world, and he's into you." She quickly covers her mouth, full of animal meat.

"Into me?" I ask her. She looks up at me with her one eye.

"I'm just assuming, you know, the way you slept last night. And he doesn't hug people as much as he hugs you. Well, maybe Zelda is an exception, but it's different with you." She takes another bite, but I haven't touched mine.

"I met him a day ago, he can't like me like that," I confirm. She shrugs again, not wanting to talk with her mouth full.

"That's all I'm saying, is that I think you guys like each other," she accuses when she swallows.

"It's probably just him being nice, Midna. Isn't that his character?" The imp shakes her head in argument.

"He is nice, but he's... different, like I said. He doesn't act the same way around you like he does to other people. I can see it in his eyes. And in yours, too." My blush hasn't faded yet, and I look down at the meat. I shove a piece in my mouth to try to get out of the conversation, which fails miserably considering Midna keeps the talk going. "Why do you like him?"

"I wouldn't say I like him in that way, but I've known of him since I was six. You can't blame me for being in awe when I first met him. I didn't even know Hyrule existed, let alone him." Midna sets her plate down beside her and comes to sit on my knees, just above Link's arm. 

"Would you ever really have romantic feelings for a fictional character?" she asks me.

"It's not like that, I just never saw him in my life and now that he's here in front of me, I don't know how to react." I look into the imp's eye.

"Just know that the second I catch you two kissing, I'm taking a picture of it with your little rectangle thingamabob." I chuckle at her confidence, taking another bite of my squirrel. And as I'm eating, my mind keeps racing back to the same question: how do we know about Hyrule?

"Would you ever want your world to be revealed? To Earth," I ask once the squirrel is down my throat. "No one, not even myself before now, has even made the assumption that Hyrule was an actual place. How would you feel if it just came out of hiding?" Midna ponders the question for a moment.

"Personally, I wouldn't mind. But it's the Goddesses you'd have to ask if you wanted to just hand over the kingdom on a silver platter." I nod in understanding. "None of us knew about Earth before Hylia put her spirit in you, and even now there aren't that many who hear about it."

Before I can ask Midna another question, Link's arm shifts from my calves, startling me. He rolls over and opens his eyes to the same vision I had: an angry sun whose beams could blind even the strongest of men. He immediately shuts his eyelids again, tightly, then turns to where the light isn't so bright. He looks at me, and I notice his hard gaze soften, scrunched eyebrows relaxing and a small smile picking up on his face. "Good morning," he says quietly.

"Good morning," I return. Link sits up next to me.

"I see you made us some squirrel, Midna." The small girl rolls her eyes at the amused look from the boy. "Where's mine?"

"Unfortunately, you weren't supposed to wake up this early but you did. So I guess I'm just going to have to share." Link chuckles as Midna hands him her half eaten plate. I continue to eat the rest of mine, and he finishes the other.

"It's good today. You got young ones." He smacks his lips. "No, take that back. Teenagers. And they're healthy."

"That is disgusting that you can tell the age of a squirrel just by tasting its meat," I tell him, grossed out.

"I've had my fair share of squirrels. You'll get to this same point sooner or later." He turns to the imp. "Were there any enemies while you hunted? I just need a safe place to keep Ebony while we figure out where this flower is supposed to be." But his question doesn't even need to be asked, because Fi materializes out of the sword, telling us exactly what we want to hear. 

"It is very likely that you are near Farore's Flower at this second, Mistress Ebony and Master Link."

"Ahem." Fi turns to Midna.

"And you, young Twilight Princess." Midna sits back satisfied.

"Where could it be, though?" I ask Fi.  
"It is less than a mile away from you in any direction, but all I sense right now is coming from below you." I look at the ground, then at the flower.

"Link..." He stops eating his squirrel mid-bite, looking at me with wide eyes. "Did you say this flower here was a normal flower?"

"It always seemed like it, besides the fact that it was huge," he answers, a bit of meat still in his mouth. I stand from my spot and walk over to the petals, running my hand along the smooth lavender material. I look in the middle of it, at the large, bright yellow center, and brace myself to wipe away the pollen. My arm swats the powder off, and immediately I begin coughing. Link tries to reach me but starts to hack up a lung as well. "What... i-is that stuff?" he questions. Fi flies over, and I guess her being intangible makes her immune to it, because she's not affected at all. 

"It seems to be filled with some kind of poison," she states. My skin starts burning as pollen begins to rest upon my arms and face. "Mistress Ebony, your world might call this tear gas." My mind nearly goes blank. Tear gas? Why the hell? How is a flower filled with tear gas?

I run from the pollen and beckon Link to as well. There is yellow fuzz stuck everywhere on our bodies and it stings, badly. Why would anyone put tear gas in the pollen? "Get on your stomach, as low to the ground as you can," I command, catching my voice for just enough time to get a sentence out. He lowers himself and I see him slowly start to feel better now that the pollen isn't multiplying on his body. Fi stands, looking at the flower. "What is it, Fi?" I ask.

"I believe I have found the location of the Flower of Farore." I turn to Midna as fast as I can manage, who is shielding herself from the swirling storm of pollen.

"Do you have anything that blows away dust? Things you would use in Eldin or Lanayru might come in handy here," I say. She quickly whips up a pair of fireplace bellows, and hands them to me.

"I don't have much, but these might do the trick," she says. The tear gas still hurts like hell, and I don't want to breathe, but I push on the bellows with enough determination that the pollen slowly but surely starts floating off. Fi is unharmed, but I have pollen covering me, which hurts like hell, and Link is writhing on the ground in pain. I throw the bellows away and pull him into my arms.

"Midna, I need a bucket of water, doesn't matter what temperature, but it need it fast." Link is coughing up the pollen - God, why did he swallow it? - and I can only imagine the pain he's in right now. Sure, I'm hurting, but more for him than myself. The bucket appears next to me instantly and I pour it up and down Link's body. When he's covered, I pour the rest on myself. It washes off the gas and only numbs the pain just long enough for the effects to wear off. I cup my hands in a small puddle made from the poured water and bring it to Link's lips, as his throat is still caked in the yellow dander. "Drink it, Link. You have to, or it'll only kill you." He weakly brings my handmade cup to his mouth and washes the pollen through his throat, but he continues to cough. "You'll be okay, Link, you're okay." I pull his limp but living head to my chest and almost cry into it.

Midna hovers over to my ear. "I told you that you liked him and you didn't believe me," she whispers. I disregard her comment for now, seeing as there's far more important things to be worried about, but I remind myself to mention it later. I pick out any remaining pieces of fuzz from Link's body, making sure it's completely clear of pain. Link's breathing finally slows, and he opens his heavy and glazed over eyes. 

"Ebony?" He looks at me, and for a second I'm almost glad that this happened, because the way he's looking at me is enough to have the Zelda maniac inside me quietly squealing. 

"Yeah?"

"What's tear gas?" he asks as he begins to sit up. I let my arms fall from him and look at him in amazement. I can't even answer his question as I sit on my knees in front of him, gazing at him as if he was just reborn in front of my eyes. Before I can process another thought, my instincts - or maybe my inner Zelda maniac - make me leap onto him and take him to the ground once more.

"I thought you were about to die," I tell him, my face buried in his shoulder. He sits me up, and I'm sitting on his legs. He smirks, that same amused smirk that I haven't got tired of, and probably won't get tired of for a long time. 

"You thought I would go down that easily?" I pull him close again, and as I do so, the strange sensation in my heart returns. Link notices it, too, and looks down at his chest. A purple orb is floating from his heart to mine, and he stares at it in awe.

"The Wisdom of Power," I hear Fi say. "It is the second of your three spiritual enhancers."

"That was the weirdest feeling I've ever felt," Link exclaims, and his starstruck look returns. But then his gaze hardens. "But I have the Triforce of Courage. Why did the other two pass down?"

Fi answers. "Her Grace may receive any spiritual enhancer from any person with a piece of the Triforce, including you, Princess Zelda, and Ganondorf. It does not matter the piece you have, but the acts Her Grace performs."

"So I guess you knew the right thing to do and told Link to do it," Midna begins, "and it gave you Wisdom and Power." I don't respond, but I know that's probably the case. 

"Congratulations, Mistress Ebony. You have successfully completed your task of recovering both souls from the Goddess Nayru of Wisdom."

"Ebony, look at your hand!" Link says, and I do so. The bottom left triangle of my small Triforce is now glowing a gold color. "Does this happen every time you get a Goddess' soul?"

"I guess so," I reply, and continue to look at my hand. It doesn't hurt. In fact, I can't even feel it. It's just a faint, gold color illuminating from the back of my left hand. It's much unlike the sensation I usually think of when I think of a working Triforce, which is searing pain. But I'll take my lack of pain gratefully.

"Mistress Ebony, if you will, I have located the Flower of Farore and calculate an 87% chance that it is inside of the pollinated flower you just encountered." I look at Link, who is taking me off his lap and standing up. He walks over to the flower and looks inside it.

"There's some sort of green glow coming from in here. I think we should go down," he suggests, and turns to me. "Are you coming?" he asks. I stand and brush off my dirty clothing as much as I can, then walk over to Link. "It's a pretty long fall, but I don't think it's long enough for the sailcloth. Just make sure your legs hold out once you hit the bottom." He finds my hand to give it a squeeze, then allows himself to slip down the stem of the flower. I hear a small booming sound from inside.

"Are you okay?" I call to him. He walks back under the entrance to the stem and looks up at me, squinting his eyes at the bright sun above us.

"I'm fine, now get yourself down here so we can find this flower." I step onto one of the petals nervously and slide down the inside of the flower's stem. Link catches me at the bottom, thankfully, but it knocks both of us over. He laughs and I follow along as we both pick ourselves back up off the ground.

The floor is cold, but the air is warm. The whole room itself is nearly pitch black, and the only thing that makes Link visible is the small light from my hand. Midna and Fi float down the stem with ease - curse people who can fly - and Fi returns to my sword. "Where should we go from here?" Midna asks.

"If there's anything I know about temples and dungeons," I start, "we just have to find the unlocked rooms." Link nods, and reassured, Midna goes back to his shadow.

"Where do you think we should start, though? I can't see a thing in here." He looks around the dark room and back down at my Triforce. "Can you use your light as a torch?" he asks me. I nod and hold it up, trying to showcase the walls and find doors but the light isn't strong enough and it only reaches a few feet in front of us. "Maybe you have some sort of way of making it brighter?" he suggests.

"I'm trying, but I don't think it'll be any brighter until I get the other two lights." I hold my arm out and focus all of the energy I can muster into my left hand, trying as hard as possible to shine more, but I feel nothing. "We should just feel around," I tell him with a sigh.

"No," he says flatly as I begin waking forward. "There could be traps anywhere, holes in the floor, monsters. It's best if we just wait it out until we can figure out some sort of way to yield light."

"We can't just sit here and wait, Link! Demise is on his way to corrupt the world and I'm not going to let him do it." I put my hand down so that the floor right in front of me is visible. "If I keep my hand positioned here, we may be able to light some sort of path." I slowly walk in front of me with Link on my tail and pause when I see a crack in the ground. "Stop," I tell him. "Let me check this." I press a foot firmly onto the crack to check its hold. It breaks into a chunk, but doesn't fall through. I lean over to pick it up, and there's large amounts of dirt under the floor. "We should be good, at least for this room. The whole thing is on top of soil. Just stay cautious."

I continue to walk until I hit a wall, and then I skim it for any doors. Nearly halfway around the walls, I find what looks to be a door - or, maybe a door, considering it's a large, rectangular slab of rock separated from the rest of the wall. I turn to Link, and he gets the hint. He steps forward and lifts the door by the bottom, pulling it up. I slide under it and hold it up long enough for Link to fit through.

On the other side, there's another solid floor with doors on every side of the room. It's much brighter in here and I sigh in relief. Link takes the first movements, running forward to the huge stalagmite reaching from the ground in the center of the room all the way to the ceiling. "Wow," he says. "I've never seen one this big before." He circles around it and I want to join him there but stop myself when I realize that the floor may not be stable.

"Link..." I start, but I can't yell at him in time. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and I'm screaming at Link to get to solid ground. He tears his attention away from the rock and bolts towards another room. I sprint to make it to him but the floor falls out from under me.

"Ebony!" he shrieks, and I make a leap of faith off the platform that fell to the corner of the room. I slam into the wall face first and immediately I can feel my nose starting to bleed, burning pain shooting through it. When I make it, there's only a two foot pathway between the wall and the fiery pit of lava that awaits us to claim our death. Link is panting, looking out of the hallway to make sure I'm okay.

"I'm fine, Link," I tell him. Now if only I could inch across this wall. It's two feet, plenty of walking room. The blood is dripping onto my chin and I need to heal it, but I need to get to Link first. I close my eyes, stay as close to the wall as I can, and walk.

I don't want to look down, because I know my nerves would send me over the edge. Link is sending me encouraging words and for the first time I realize that this isn't just a game; I'm really in a life or death situation. I force myself to stay calm, and I'm only five feet from Link when he reaches out to grab my hand and slips, sending him tumbling into the molten lava below. I scream his name, not once, not twice, or even three times. In fact, I lose count of how many times I call to him, with no answer. I rush to the safety point of the hallway and look over the edge. Link is nowhere to be seen.

"No," I whisper. "He can't die. Not because of me." And when I finally accept that he's not coming back, I slump down onto the wall, pull my knees to my chest, and cry.

(5/1/17)


	6. A Power Unleashed

A Power Unleashed  
\----------

It's been five minutes since Link fell into the lava, and somehow I blame myself for his death. He reached out for me... he was going to save me, but he fell. And now I can't stop crying, and I'm alone in this disgusting, cruel world. I see Fi materialize before me, the fire beneath me illuminating her purples and blues in magentas. 

"Mistress Ebony?" she says cautiously. I don't try to stop her from talking, but I'm not in the mood to hold a conversation. "I know you do not want to hear this, but Master Link has most likely perished in the lava." Her words only bring another pang of hurt to my chest that makes me cry harder, and I weep uncontrollably into my arms. Anything that falls into my mouth tastes like salt and iron, but the combination of this taste and my broken nose is nothing compared to the pain I feel over Link. That hurts worse than any physical torture. 

I remember his words from the castle. "Your life comes before mine and I will put mine at risk to save yours," I quote in my head. "He didn't have to die," I mutter.

"Whatever do you mean?" Fi asks.

"If he hadn't taken me to see Zelda yesterday, he would be alive and well, never in my presence. He would be alive if it wasn't for me!" I scream. I hate myself for doing this to him. I hate myself, and the only person to stop that pain would be the Hero of Legend himself. But he's not here. He's dead down there, and it's all because I was dumb enough to let him fall.

Somehow, the bubbling of the lava creeps into my thoughts, and I wonder what it would be like to just jump in. I'm sure it would be painful, but nothing could make me hurt worse than this guilt I'm feeling. 

"Ebony! Are you okay?" a voice says. Midna's voice. "What happened to your-"

"I ran into a wall." She holds back a laugh, but I appreciate the fact that she didn't bust out laughing at my obvious stupidity. 

"Link is still alive," she breathes. Fi and I both have looks of shock - or, as shocked as Fi can look. "He's laying unconscious on the ground next to that stalagmite. You can't see it from here, but I promise you, he's there. You have to make it down to him. Somehow, you have to! He's not going to last much longer. He's breathing, but the fall he took concaved his ribs and lungs, and he's not doing too well." Link is alive.

Link is alive!

"Midna, can you go back down to him, reach in his tunic and bring me the sailcloth?" She nods, then flies off. I throw my head back in relief, but the pain still isn't over yet. He's dying, and quickly, too.

"What are you going to do with it?" Midna asks as I take the now blood-stained sailcloth.

"I'm going to Link," I tell her. "Fi, get in the sword." She does as I ask. I take a deep breath, ready the sailcloth, and jump.

The fall is relieving, and reminds me of the first time I jumped off a loftwing in Skyloft. Link was there, watching me, a smile bright on his face. But now, there's no smile, and there's no Link. I angle my trajectory and deploy the sailcloth with Midna at my side, pushing down my growing tense thoughts. It glides me around the stalagmite and down onto a smaller island. Not the one Link is on, but close.

From where I'm standing, I can see him. He's lying face down on what looks to be concrete, and he isn't moving a muscle. There's a puddle of blood surrounding him, shimmering in the light from the lava, and I worry with each passing second he stays there, frozen.

I jump across a few islands to reach the main one, and run to Link as fast as my legs will carry me. When I reach him, he's hardly breathing and barely has a heartbeat. "He's dying," I tell no one, as if it weren't already obvious. "Midna, do you have anything to heal him?"

"I have potions to stop the blood, but as long as his ribs are tucked in, he won't be able to breathe." She tosses me a vial filled with liquid. The color is strange, but I don't mind. I flip Link onto his back, and he tries to take a gasp of air, but blood pours out of his mouth in place of oxygen. I unbelt his tunic and reveal his front side. His chest is completely curved inward, and it's at this point that I can really take to heart what Midna had told me. I pour the potion onto Link's chest, where his broken ribs are poking holes through his skin. The blood stops, but his ribs are still sticking out of him.

"What do we do?" I ask her in a panic. Midna's eye sheds a tear as she realizes her hero's fate.

"I don't have anything to repair bones, Ebony. Unless there's some magical way that he can heal himself, I think... I think he's gone." Midna sits on his knees, cut and scraped. I don't even try to hold back my tears this time, and fall next to Link's near lifeless body sobbing into the wadded material of his bloodied tunic. I hold his head up and look at him, trying to breathe but struggling, and I know there's nothing I can do but sit here and watch the Goddesses' Chosen Hero die in my arms.

My tears are falling like mad now, but Midna refuses to look vulnerable. I brace myself for the worst, knowing I'd be stuck in this dungeon the rest of my life, when the Triforce on my hand starts to glow. I'm still panting from crying, and the agonizing pain the activation of my Triforce brings is too much to bear. Shaking, I set my hand down on Link's heart, hoping that now that it's ready for use something will happen.

And it does.

Before my eyes, Link's ribs begin to shift into place and his lungs I assume heal up. The holes in his chest are sealed with heavy pink scarring and some of the more shallow cuts in his body begin to disappear. Midna can't believe it either. She's looking at me as if I was some sort of freak. 

Link takes in a sharp breath and shoots his eyes open. "LINK!" I cry, giving him the biggest hug I can manage. He hesitantly hugs me back, not knowing what to think or why he's suddenly alive. He's obviously sore from the fall, but other than a few scars on his chest he shows no signs of pain or fatality. "You were dead, and then my Triforce, and... and... oh my God, Link, you're alive." Soon he's hugging me back, tighter than ever despite his soreness.

"You gave me a heart attack, boy! Do you know how difficult it is seeing you in pain? And for the girl who loves you, I can't even imagine wh-" Midna begins, but covers her mouth. "Oops!"

"You... love me?" Link says in disbelief. I look into his blue eyes, tinted purple from the lava, and his dirty blonde hair which is now a deep mahogany, not from just the lava, but also his blood, and I feel his strong hands holding on to me from behind, and I realize that I do love him. Somehow, in some way, the feeling has always been there. It might not be romantically, but I know, considering my reaction to the past five minutes, that I definitely have some sort of love for him. I shrug sheepishly, thankful that the red of the fire is hiding my severe blush. I look down at the ground, too shy to see him at all again, but he puts a crimson finger under my chin and lifts my head up. "Stop looking away from me," he says, so softly that if he talked any louder I would shatter. He doesn't say anything more, but the intensity of his gaze speaks for itself.

"Well, I hate to interrupt you two lovebirds," Midna says, drawing both of us out of our trance, "but we have a kingdom to rescue. Chop chop." I help Link to his feet but once he's up, he's perfectly fine.

He gives me one last squeeze around my waist. "Let's go fight some monsters," he says, and I smile at his bravery. We rush up to the boss door, which had thankfully revealed itself in this bottom level with the stalagmite, but the lock has already been turned. "Someone's already been here," he informs darkly. 

"Don't we need a key?" I ask him. He squints at the keyhole, then shakes his head. He grabs the door from the bottom and lifts it up. His sore muscles hold him back, so I run and help him. Soon, the door is up and we're all through it. But we aren't inside for five seconds before my fear stalks back in. 

"Well, well, well," speaks a menacing voice. It's not a familiar one but I know who it is instantly.

"Ghirahim," I whisper through gritted teeth. I can't see him; he's still in the shadows.

"It's Farore's chosen hero and his little Goddess of scum." Link balls his hands into fists as Ghirahim laughs, a high-pitched, obnoxious laugh that makes me glare even further at the darkness before me. "You know, I wasn't expecting you two to make it this far. The girl is much too weak to defend herself. But after... recent events, I've had to make a change of plans."

"What do you want, asshole?" I mutter. It's quiet but in the huge room my voice travels.

"I just want to have some fun," Ghirahim states. "Why kill the chosen one now when you can do it when it's most important for him to win?" He steps forward into the light, and claps twice, turning the once empty room into a battlefield. "It's my playground, Hylia."

"If you're going to hurt us, you might as well do it now," Link growls. Ghirahim ignores him.

"See, after you activated your Triforce, I knew that you weren't going to be easy to take down, especially if you were with that one." I'm still glaring at him and Link is holding my hand protectively. "I would have to, say, separate you." A clear piece of glass falls down onto our connected hands, forcing them apart as we're tied to only half a room each. Link bangs on the invisible wall to try and break it and get to me, but I can only stay locked on Ghirahim's eyes that are staring into my own. "And now I have."

He leaps towards me, sword out, and I roll away just in time for him to slice the ground. He has his eyes closed in anger as he stands up, then darts at me with the hilt of his sword pressed to his stomach and the blade coming right for me. I scream as I lay on the floor, helpless to the death about to overtake me. And I wait for it, but it never comes.

I open my eyes and Ghirahim is standing above me. He has his sword in his hand, twirling it. "Now, how fun would it be if I were just to slide this blade straight through your heart right now?" He vanishes, and I look around for him. "Certainly not as fun as watching you suffer," he whispers in my ear. Instead of jumping back I stand up into his chin, whipping out the Goddess Sword. It makes me smirk knowing I probably made him bite that giraffe-like tongue of his. 

"You just try," I tell him. He comes at me once again and I block his strike with my own sword. As hard as I try, he's stronger, and he's walking me back into the glass wall separating Link and I. Suddenly, I get an idea. As Ghirahim's sword closes in on my face, I slip out from under him, cutting across his leg in the process. He falls forward, and his blade punctures the wall forcing the whole thing to disappear. He's limping now, but it's not enough.

He puts his sword back in its sheath and takes out his small knife. It's smaller than Link's, but not by much. He turns to Link, and before I can process the situation his dagger is through the shoulder of my shirt and I'm stuck to the wall. He snaps his fingers and a pool of lava appears below my feet. My breathing becomes heavy, and I know the fabric of my tank top won't last long. "Now, Link. There are two possible options. You can save the girl, or you can save yourself. Once her shirt rips, she's going to be consumed by flames. It's your choice." Link takes a deep breath of meditation, but I don't think he's even considering a second option by the way his eyes are focused on my shoulder. And it's only when Ghirahim starts to chuckle that Link sprints toward me. 

The next few seconds happen so slowly it's painful just to think about them. Link jumps over the lava and pulls me off the dagger, ripping the sleeve off my shirt. At the same time, Ghirahim throws his sword at the two of us, going straight through the flesh of my thigh before I roll out of Link's arms, already feeling the blow of the hit.

"Midna; take care of her, I'll see to this guy." Link stands up, pulling out the Master Sword, and runs a clean slice through Ghirahim's right breast, sending him tumbling to the floor. Midna is slowly pulling out the sword from my leg and I'm aching in pain. She pours a liquid over it and I wince at the throbbing, burning sensation it brings. A cloth is wrapped around my leg, and she flies up to my face.

"You'll be okay, but it might take a bit before you can walk on your own. None of your bones are broken but the sword went right through your muscle. I sealed it, and cleaned the blood, but the wound will need to heal on its own." I hiss at the growing pain but nod slowly. As I look up, I notice Ghirahim's body begin to fade away into nothingness, and Link rushes back over to me.

"Oh, Ebony, I'm so sorry, this never should've happened! I'm so stupid, there's no way I can forgive myself for what I've caused. You're hurt, and-"

"Link, I'm fine." He doesn't buy it.

"It's all my fault, I should've never listened to Zelda and brought you here, I should've-" I cut him off by taking the side of his face in my hand and placing a tender, lingering kiss on his forehead.

"Link, I'm fine," I repeat. He calms down and looks at me for a moment, almost in surprise. He lowers his head and places it on my shoulder in yet another hug, but this time more gentle.

"But your leg hurts, I can tell."

"My leg hurts, but I'm fine," I assure him, and he finally gets the message. He helps me stand up on only my right leg, and I put an arm around his shoulder for support. "We can't move very quickly when I'm in this condition," I tell him.

"I know. There's a forest spirit somewhere in here and I need to take you to him." I use him as a crutch and we hobble around the room.

"Mistress Ebony," Fi calls, "I sense the Flower of Farore to the south of us. Perhaps the forest spirit is the one who guards this cherished item." Link finds the only other door in the room and takes me over to it. Midna uses some sort of telepathy to push the door up and he guides me under it.

"There it is," I say, looking at the bright green glow coming from a tiny flower in the middle of this room. Midna hovers forward but is stopped when she bumps into something.

"That's weird, there's nothing here," she says, but she's wrong. A large monkey, sitting in the fetal position, materializes in front of the three of us, and I know exactly who it is.

"Show the Goddess Sword," it says, voice low and powerful but somehow soothing. With Link's support I unsheath the sword containing Fi. "Ebony Acres, incarnation of the Goddess Hylia, welcome to the dungeon of the woods. I am Faron, the one chosen by the Goddess Farore, creator of life in Hyrule, to watch over this forest. You have been summoned to complete a quest against Demise, and for challenging and defeating this dungeon I award you with the honor of the Flower of Farore." The green, glowing flower floats over to me and inserts itself inside me, giving me the same feeling I had the past two times. "I see you have sustained an injury."

"Faron, she feels okay, but as her protector I don't find her fit to travel like this. Is there any possible way you can fix her?" Faron looks at my left thigh.

"The water below me is a passage to the entrance of Lake Floria. Enter it hurt, and you will be healed. Enter it with no injuries, and you will gain the injury of the one who went before you, only to be healed naturally, not by potions." Link, unsure as to if his scars and bruises count as injuries, takes out his knife and slices a thin line through the bend in his elbow. He squeezes his eyes shut and hands the dagger to Midna, who simply punctures herself through the hand. She doesn't seem to mind the hole, and puts the blade back into Link's belt for him. The boy brings me forward and carefully sets me in the water. As soon as my wound touches the liquid it heals up, and I go underwater, swimming through the tunnel. 

When I resurface, I'm on the side of Lake Floria where Link first meets Faron in Twilight Princess. I get to the grass and untie the piece of my shirt that is around my leg. The wound is gone, and my broken nose is back in place. Soon enough, Link is beside me. His scars are gone, I notice, when he takes off his tunic to get in the water. "It has been too long, Lake Floria," he says with his head relaxing backwards.

Midna flies over to me. "You need a new shirt, I bet," she says, and I nod quickly. The imp disappears and returns with knight's garb in her hands. "It might be too heavy but for what it's worth, it's all I have that can protect you."

I heed her warning but take the clothes anyway. Unfolding them, I notice that the tunic is near identical to Link's but purple, and the chainmail is slightly lighter so I wouldn't feel weighted down. "Thanks, Midna," I tell her, and try to undress while Link isn't paying any attention to me. He seems too lost in the things we just accomplished, so I quickly take off my tank top and slide the long sleeved shirt on. Even if he isn't looking at me, I need to run behind a nearby tree to get the pants on, and then I emerge to put on the rest of the armor.

Link is still floating in the water when I'm finished changing, and I take this time to look at my surroundings. It's only my second day here and already I'm beginning to feel okay. Of course, my life is at stake every other hour, but I'm okay. "It looks good on you," Midna says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"It's a perfect fit," I reply.

"A seamstress in a village I visited long ago made it for Zelda, but she never used it and handed it off to me, to give it to someone who would need it more. I guess that person would be you." She chuckles softly and looks over at the topless boy wading in the lake. "I think he's been a little out of it ever since that little moment after you saved him," she tells me. My cheeks turn red just at the mention of my actions and I can't help but cover them with my hands. "Do you really? Love him, I mean." Do I? He was on the verge of death when I implied that I did, but he's done so much for me when he doesn't even know me and I don't deserve any of it.

"Maybe," I say to Midna. Her bright eye dims. "I'm still confused at a lot of things here, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like him at all." And it was true. Maybe I did have a little crush on Link. Perhaps I do love him. But all of my unknown thoughts are superseded by one, and that's that I know I have feelings towards him. Even still, Midna looks slightly disappointed at my answer.

"It's rare that Link gets romantic at all with anyone, except maybe Zelda at times. But I've never seen him act this way. It's like he's awestruck, like he knows he's in love but doesn't want to tell anyone."

(5/8/17)


	7. Revelation

"You ready to get going?" Link asks me, slipping on his chainmail. He completely ignores my new fashion choice, I assume because he either overheard Midna and I or saw me changing - both of which I am very embarassed about. 

"Yeah," I tell him. "Where to now, Fi?" The spirit appears in front of us.

"The closest item in my detector is coming from the west. I cannot determine what it is, but I calculate a 68% chance that it is one of the items we are questing for."

"West we go," I say, trying to find the right direction. "Which way is west?" Link guides my pointed finger to a large tree.

"At this lake, that tree is always west." I give him a small nod as thanks and walk that way. He catches up and puts his head on my shoulder. "Can I listen to that music you have on your phone?" I roll my eyes but hand him the device, now with almost a half-depleted battery. He plugs in my earbuds and starts choosing a song. "What's this one about?" he asks, pointing to Requiem from Dear Evan Hansen. 

"It's hard to explain, I guess. This kid commits suicide and he was sort of a jerk to his family so that's his parents and sister saying how they won't mourn over him. Because he was a jerk." With a confused glance at me, he clicks it and slides the phone into the pocket of his belt that is also holding his knife.

"These things do not stay in my ears," he complains, and I laugh.

"That's because they're made for Earth people ears, tiny ones at that, not Hylian ears." He just smiles, pushes them farther in his ears and walks in silence. I can barely hear the tune coming from the buds and softly hum along.

A minute later, Link breaks the silence. "I like this song," he tells me, and I nod.

"I like it, too." He continues to listen as if he didn't hear me at all. The songs play the whole time we're walking, but I see Link continue to replay Requiem. "That's your favorite, huh?" He takes out the left earbud.

"Yeah. It's really emotional." He's such a dork, my conscience says, he's into depressing Broadway songs. "Anyways, I shouldn't just use this up. You seem to want to be saving something, like it's going to die." He turns off the phone and hands it back to me.

"True. If I'm stuck here for all eternity without an outlet, God save me." He laughs, probably wondering what the hell an outlet is, and I maintain a straight face. I'm thankful Midna went to organize her storage room again, so she can't hear us. "You know, I don't think I'm going to survive this entire trip eating squirrel meat."

"We don't eat squirrel every day, it's just convenient so when we forget a meal Midna makes some."

"So what else do you eat?" I ask him.

"It's a luxury to get some decent food out here in the open fields but whenever we see a village we stop to either eat or pick up food for another time. Midna keeps it all in her little room thing in my shadow. Why? Do you not like squirrel?"

"No, it's good, I was just wondering how often you guys have it. On Earth, you're going to have a different meal every day. In fact, my mom used to plan out a schedule for every day of the month. And we would never not eat." He raises an eyebrow.

"Your mother is really an organizer, isn't she?" I nod, and he chuckles. "I don't really remember my mother much. I was told she died in a moblin swarm." Oh no, Link, don't get sad, you can't get sad now. "But before then everyone called her beautiful and sweet and kind, and even if they say those things I don't have many memories of her," he hangs his head down at the ground.

"I bet your mom would've loved to have been here to watch you do what you're doing," I say, trying to comfort him. "I mean, look at what you've done for me. You've saved my life at least twice by now, and we've only known each other a day and a half." He looks up at me through the fringe of his hair. "Your mom would've been proud." He smiles a bit, knowing I'm attempting to help.

"Thanks," he says. "I still miss her, though. Before I knew what I was capable of I thought of what it would be like to go and see her. No one said she was dead, just that she was away. When she never came back, I was told the truth. Then the thought really occurred to me of why I never did just end things and be with her. But I soon realized that's not what she would've wanted me to do. So I kept going."

I smile. "You know, for having the Triforce of Courage, you sure have a lot of courage." He laughs, but it's not his happiest. "Just remember that she's watching you right now, at this very moment, and she's proud."

He pulls me into his side. "C'mere, you." I put an arm around him and we walk like this for a few minutes, when Fi appears from my sword.

"Mistress Ebony, I have calculated a 77% chance that the item we are traveling west for is the Wave of Nayru. Be on the lookout for water." And she's gone just like that. My mind reels for a thought of bodies of water in the west.

"Where do you think it could be?" I ask Link, who's also pondering the location.

"The only place I can think of that's big enough in this direction is Lake Hylia, but who knows where it could be there. The thing is like an ocean."

"We might as well go there, then. Just keep thinking of little areas a Goddess item would be." He nods.

As we walk, my mind thinks up different areas of the lake. The very center of it? At the shore somewhere? An island? There are too many possibilities and it's hard to think of them all.

"I'm thinking we might have to stop at Kakariko Village pretty soon. Even with that squirrel earlier, there is no way I can pass up those delicacies," Link says.

"Kakariko Village is around here?" I ask him.

"Yeah, it's pretty close to the woods. We should be there in an hour or two, if we keep walking." So Kokiri Forest and Faron Woods are the same thing? It would make sense, but we're walking west, so Kokiri should be south if we're going off Ocarina of Time, but then we had Faron Woods which was in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword but not Ocarina of Time, and now we have Lake Hylia which was previously inaccessible until Ocarina of Time, but even that was just for the Water Temple, and now I'm confused.

"You actually don't know how much I've wanted to go to Kakariko Village," I tell him, ignoring my thoughts. I'll just find a map later.

"And try some of their famous gumbo?" he adds. I shrug, not knowing anything about their food.

"There was no mention of food in the games, so I'm not sure."

"You'll love it. I haven't met a person who doesn't." He grins. "I want to know what your kind of food is like."

"Processed, genetically modified, stale. The only good kind of food is bad for you, and the only food that's good for you tastes bad. So there's really no amazing food. And we don't eat squirrel, either." Link laughs, then turns and stomps on his shadow. Midway through the sixth step, his foot hits Midna's head.

"Watch where you step, big guy!" Midna calls, flying forward. "Geez, my silent time is the only time Link ever needs me. When I'm around he doesn't need me, and here he is-"

"Can you scout out Kakariko? I want to take Ebony there tonight." Well, the way you just put it, you might as well call it a date.

"Ugh," the imp groans. "Whatever. Can't get a little alone time, ever." She goes up, leaving the two of us.

"I think she's just angry I stepped on her head," Link tells me, running a hand through his hair. 

"That's probably it." Midna comes back down to eye level.

"The village is about an hour away, straight ahead," she says, her voice monotone. She goes back to Link's shadow but keeps only her head out. "Take your beloved wherever, just don't put your dirty foot on my hair ever again." She lowers herself back into the grass for a second, popping back up only to throw a wad of green fabric at Link. "Put it back on, idiot." The latter chuckles, picking up the fabric and putting it on his head. His hat. I can tell he's lost in some wandering thought by the way his hands linger on his head after he adjusts the hat. 

"My beloved?" Link finally repeats in an amused tone. He turns to me, grabs my waist, and pulls me to him, and I let out a small squeal. "Well, I guess if you're my beloved, then I love you."

"You were the most boring little shit in these video games, you know. Nothing like the real you." He laughs and lets go of me. "The Link in the video games didn't grab people out of nowhere."

"Did the Link in the video games have a beloved?" he asks, still mocking Midna's tone.

"Not to my knowledge," I answer, "but everyone thought you should be with Zelda."

"She's the princess, and she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," I tell him. This entire conversation is a joke.

"Every time I try to talk to her she just goes on with her smart mouth, and I have to sit back and watch her. She thinks she's so entitled sometimes because she's wiser than I am. Excuse me, Princess, was I bothering you? Wait, of course I was, I'm Link." I fall down to the floor in laughter and he looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "You okay, Ebony?"

"I'm fine," I inform through cackles. "It's just... It's just an inside joke." He stands me up, but I still need support. "In the show, that's an ongoing thing with you and her, and-"

"The 'excuse me' thing? I say that all the time, what's so funny about it?"

"If you ever come to Earth, trust me, I'll show you." I'm still laughing, but I'm slowly starting to regain balance. He didn't even use it the way he does in the show, but just because he said it...

"What would you do if I did go back with you?" he asks. If it was possible?

"Um, I'd probably enroll you in public school and show you how lucky you are to have an actual knight academy." He chuckles.

"I don't know if I'm ready for that," he says sarcastically.

"You really aren't. You're probably somewhere around my age so they'd put you in high school, and you wouldn't know half the crap they tried to teach you."

"I'm seventeen. Your world teaches people that are seventeen?" He sounds so shocked about it. Then again, he probably finished knight school when he was thirteen.

I nod. "And after that last year of high school most people go off to college, where they get taught about certain things there until they're in there early twentys." He scoffs.

"Twentys? Here in Hyrule you're done with learning completely at ten, then you go to the knight academy until you get enough skills to handle it on your own, which for most people is around thirteen or fourteen. Of course, after they found out about me at age eleven I was out of there but for most people, well, you get it."

"Like I said: you're lucky to have a knight academy. Schooling on Earth is practically hell, maybe a little easier but it's still not good."

"What kinds of things do they teach you?"

"Well, in high school we have these things called credits and you need twenty-six of them to graduate: four from each of your core classes, math, science, social studies, and English, then you need a PE credit, a technology credit, three credits from a foreign language, a credit from fine arts, and then a few from your elective courses. Are you following me?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about but I'm scared now," he says, and I laugh.

"So it takes four years to get all of these credits and you get seven classes every year, seven times four is twenty-eight, which means you can only fail two classes those entire four years or you have to be there longer." He looks intrigued but nervous. "So for example, this year my classes would've been Calculus, Physics, U.S. History, English, Theatre, French, and Computer Science, which is only seven classes. If I pass all of them I'll have twenty-three credits, so I'll only need three next year to get my full twenty-six and graduate, but if I fail these I'd have to take them again next year."

"Earth school sounds terrifying."

"It is." He blows out a puff of air, widening his eyes at the thought of going to a slimy public school. 

Most of the walk is quiet from here on out, with only the occasional comment about school popping up, which usually would lead to Link explaining to me how he never wants to visit my school. It's understandable.

"Here's Kakariko," I hear Link say out of nowhere. I had seen tops of houses beforehand, but now I'm actually standing in Kakariko Village. From... Breath of the Wild? Wow.

"It's so beautiful," I tell him, wanting to reach out and touch every building to make sure they were real.

"I'm thinking we might want to take a break for the night and rest up here, get washed. It's not too late right now but I figure it's okay to stay here tonight," he suggests. I nod and Midna comes out from her spot in the shadow.

"To the inn!" she calls, moving forward. We follow her, but I know exactly where we're going. Out of the corner of my eye I can see villagers, tons more than there are in the game. I see the cuccos, running wildly around their pen. The entrance to the graveyard is close by, as is-

"After you." I hardly notice Link holding open the inn door for me, and I snap out of my thoughts to slip inside quickly. There is a musty smell in here, but I figure it's only noticeable because I've never been here before. The inside is near identical to the one in Ocarina of Time, ironically, and the man at the front desk even bears a resemblance to the innkeeper... from Breath of the Wild. 

Yeah, I'm officially very confused. What game am I even in?

"Can I help you?" he asks.

"One room for one night," Link says, pulling a few rupees from his bag.

Rupees?

Cool.

"Thank you very much, kind sir," the innkeeper replies, handing Link a small key in exchange for the red gems. "Your room is on the second floor, third on the left." Link nods as thanks and takes me to the stairs.

"I have some stuff I need to go get from the graveyard, so I'll take you to the room real quick, then I'll be gone for a bit. Midna can keep you company." From the graveyard? What could Link possibly need from the graveyard?

"I do make great company, when you're on my good side," Midna adds. I chuckle as we reach the room. Link inserts the tiny key inside the tiny keyhole and twists to the right. The door slides open easily and at first glance, I'm amazed. It's not anything like the hotels back on Earth but it also doesn't look how it does in the games. It's nicely decorated, from the wooden paneled walls with paintings on them to the navy blue bedding to the cabinet that already holds small trinkets in it. The bathroom is separated and just includes a toilet and bathtub. The toilet seems simple enough to use but it doesn't flush. The bathtub is essentially just a little dip in the floor filled with water. There aren't any faucets but there is a bucket, I assume to refill the water if it gets dirty.

The first thing Link does is fall onto the bed, which sinks down softly under his weight. He lets out a quiet sigh of relaxation and I feel like doing the same. Midna retreats back into his shadow, where her luxury bedroom is. I nearly blush just at the fact that there's only one bed, but Link doesn't seem to mind right now.

"I should get going if I want to make it back before dark," he says, slowly lifting himself off the sheets. He pulls out his sword for a second, looking at it intensely before sliding it back in the sheath and walking to the door. "See you tonight." He leaves me with one last smile and closes the door. Midna slips back in right before it shuts completely.

"You can't honestly have no feelings for him," she teases, sitting beside me on the bed.

"I don't," I lie.

"That's a fib!" Midna yells.

"You're a fib," I retaliate. She stops arguing and looks confused. "It's, um, it's a comeback on Earth," I stutter out, completely embarrassed at my words. 

"You like Link, you like Link!" she sings loudly, ignoring my comment. She dances around the room and doesn't pay attention to anything I say. I'm rolling my eyes, but I still can't stop myself from laughing, even if her accusation is somewhat annoying.

"Fine!" I call, shutting her up. "I like Link, okay?" Just saying it out loud is making it more true, though I don't believe it. She stops in her tracks.

"Wait, really?" I nod confidently. "I was just doing that to annoy you two, I didn't actually know..." Her words trail off and her red-yellow eye widens to the size of a baseball. "Really?" she repeats.

I shrug this time. "Maybe just a little bit, but he doesn't-"

"He does!" she squeals. "I can tell, he likes you back."

"He hasn't known me-"

"He hasn't known nearly anyone longer than a week. It's normal for him to make these kinds of connections quickly. That's what he did with me." I let out a soft groan and allow myself to fall back on the pillow.

Curse you, Midna.

"It can't work anyways." My voice is faltering.

"Of course it can-"

"No, Midna. No matter what happens here, we can't be together. If I die, I die. If I somehow live, I'm not going to ever see him again since I'll be living up there." I point towards the ceiling. "I'm trying to keep all this in because I don't want it to be anything more. It can't be anything more." The imp stays silent for a moment after that.

"I'm sorry, Ebony," she tells me. I don't respond, but I can feel my eyes begin to well up. "If I had known it would end up this way, I would have never..."

"It's fine," I say, fighting back tears. "I just have to forget about it. Unfortunately, he's making that really difficult." Midna doesn't say anything after that, leaving me to myself to drown in my own sorrow. Soon enough, I'm falling asleep to the sound of the light rain outside and the thoughts of the boy who, despite how hard I tried to stop him, managed to steal my heart.

(5/15/17)


	8. The Moment That Changed Everything

The Moment That Changed Everything  
\----------

"Ebony?" My head stirs.

"Eb." Link's voice.

I open my groggy eyes to a dark room inside the inn at Kakariko, Link in front of me with a grin plastered on his face. "Hmm?" I ask sleepily.

"C'mere. I want to show you something." He takes my hand and stands me up, leading me carefully to the window of the inn's room. I never noticed how big it was, or that there was a door to it, leading out onto a balcony. Reminds me of home.

"What time is it?" I ask. I seem to be asking too much right now, so I decide to shut up and just let Link do the talking.

"About three, why?"

"Three? Why are you waking me up at three? And where's Midna?" And instantly, my decision to keep quiet is entirely shattered. Link doesn't mind, though, and takes me onto a small patio with a concrete floor. There's no furniture here, not even a light on the wall. The sky is dimly lit by the moon and the small lanterns on the streets of Kakariko illuminate the world around me. Link doesn't answer any of my questions, choosing instead to lean on the balcony's railing and brush them off.

"Ever seen Kakariko at night?" he says. I choose to ignore the fact that I in fact have, in video games.

"Not in real life," I reply, my voice cracking from just waking up.

"It's gorgeous. I can't spend a day in this town without coming out here to see this." I nod in agreement. He turns around, pulling out a small bowl. "This is the gumbo I was telling you about earlier. I couldn't let you leave here without having some." I take the red bowl from him and grab the small spoon inside it. The gumbo is almost a greenish gray and looks like it was made with nothing but veggies. Since asking what was in it would probably make me more confused - or disgusted, for that matter - I simply take a bite. My eyes widen in surprise when I find that the soupy stuff is actually really delicious. I can taste a hint of pepper in it, along with other unique ingredients I haven't tasted in gumbo before. Needless to say, I'd have the town's inventory of this food.

"This is the best gumbo I've ever had," I say. He smiles and rests his elbows on the rail, watching me. I ignore his look and continue to eat, savoring every last drop.

"I told you you'd love it," he replies. "I got that last batch from the woman at the inn's kitchen. She said it was the last of the day, and that it was special. So, I gave it to you."

"So now I'm special?" I ask sarcastically with a smirk. He rolls his eyes but laughs, nodding.

"Oh! I wanted to give you something else," Link says, pulling a frayed rope necklace from his pocket. Attached to it is a dull green emerald, the same color as his tunic. The exact same color. "To remember me by, no matter what happens."

"It... It's beautiful," I tell him, setting the spoon back in its spot to reach a hand out and hold the stone. There's wrapped wire around the top of the gem holding it to the rope, and the wire twists down around the emerald itself to create an intricate pattern of silver and green. I'm mesmerized by it. "Where did you get this?"

"This is what I was working on at the graveyard earlier. Took me a few hours to wrap that wire the right way but it's the best I can do. I'm not a jewelry crafter." He slips it over my head and lets it hang.

"It's perfect, Link. Thank you." I set the bowl down on the ground - I could swear I see him murmur something as I do this, but I can't tell what - and walk over to him to give him the biggest hug I can manage. He holds me around my upper arms and gives me a tight squeeze, and there is so much warmth radiating from him and his embrace that I don't want to move.

"Why are you hugging me?" he asks softly.

"I don't know," I reply. "I just don't want you to leave me." He pulls back to look me dead in the eye, a concerned look on his face.

"Why would I do that?" he asks in a light tone. He almost scoffs when he says it; I can't blame him for being offended at the question.

"I don't know," I repeat. "Just don't." His gaze softens and he gives me a small smile, his eyes never leaving mine. My arms are still around his waist from the hug and his hands are still on my shoulders. If I wasn't so drawn to him he might even look intimidating.

"Trust me, Eb, I'm not going anywhere." I rest my head on his chest, slowly moving up and down in a rhythm that soothes my erratic heartbeat.

"Promise?" I whisper. The word is almost foreign to me, as if none of them have ever been kept. But this one... this one is different. I feel a hand lift my head back up to meet his eyes, and it takes me a second to realize it's Link's hand that's softly supporting my chin, Link's eyes that are filled with so much kindness that I can't stop looking back at them.

"I promise." Suddenly this word, promise, is new. It's not just a word you throw around and lie about. It's a word that has so much pressure behind it, so much depth, that just the thought of keeping one seems a challenge. But I know... I have to keep this one, for him. For Link. Because at this point, lost and confused and maybe even a little bit desperate, he's all I have left. Him and his generosity, his loyalty, his understanding, and those eyes that I can't quit gazing into, the gentle smile resting peacefully on his lips - those lips... I can't help but wonder what they'd feel like if they were to-

... _Woah_.

My wandering thoughts are snapped back into reality when I feel a pair of soft lips press against my own, so gentle they feel ghostly. And suddenly I don't need to wonder anymore; I don't have to ask myself how kissing Link would feel. It's all too real now. Just the softest touch sends fire throughout every nerve in my body, igniting my senses. The only thing that matters is the way his lips are moving against mine. Every other place on my body is numb, buzzing with tiny lightning bolts that threaten to strike every second. It's been too long since someone has kissed me like this, and it's refreshing. His hand has now travelled to my cheek and without thinking mine move to his neck, where they clasp at the base of his hair and pull him closer. The feeling I get from this kiss is unlike any other; it's magical, and in these few seconds everything is perfect.

When he pulls back, he's breathing heavily, and I feel like I'm not breathing at all. Neither of us say a word as we look into each other's eyes, and after a while he gives me the tiniest bit of a shy smile. "Sorry, I-"

"Don't be," I say, still partly in shock. His smile widens and I return the favor. Suddenly we're broken apart by Midna, who is squealing.

"I did it!" she yells, rushing over to us. "I got the picture! Are you proud of me, Ebony?" She holds my phone up to my face and a photo of Link and I kissing is on the screen. My face goes beet red. "I told you I was going to get the picture when it happened and I did!" She goes back inside. "Man, I'm good," she mumbles.

"What was that?" Link asks, his face just as flushed as mine.

"She may or may not have told me yesterday that she would get a picture of...um..."

"The kiss?" he suggests. Yes, Link. That.

"Well, yeah. And then, um, it happened, and now she has the picture, and-"

"You should keep it," he interrupts. "Like a memory." How does he know I like him?

"I wasn't planning on deleting it," I tell him.

"You were," he says back. "You're too embarrassed." I hide my face in the green of his tunic, groaning loudly. "See? Embarrassed."

"I'm not." My words are muffled against the fabric.

"Then why are you hiding your face from me? Again?" I lift my head up to him, and his amused face nearly makes me laugh.

"Maybe that's a thing I like doing?"

"You wouldn't do it without a reason," he says. Ugh, he's right. I know he is.

"Stop it, Link," I plead.

"You couldn't bear to let me see your red face when-"

"Link!"

"-when you got embarrassed because-"

"Don't say it, I beg you."

"I kissed you." I groan and step away from him, pretending to be mad. He just chuckles. "You know it's true."

"Yeah, that's the problem." Even if I act angry I can't stop laughing.

"Wanna know something?" he singsongs.

"What?" I say, mimicking his tone.

"I'd do it again." He takes a step towards me.

"Oh really?" I turn away from him to walk back into the room.

"I would."

"You would?" My voice is challenging him.

"Most definitely."

"Well, you can't kiss me if you can't catch me." With that, I bolt out of the room and sprint downstairs out of the inn. He's following close behind me and I know he's going to catch up soon, so I take the first path I know and dash to the area in the northwest where the shrine had been in Breath of the Wild. Not half way there arms grab me from behind, and I know it's Link. He spins me around and places a soft, quick kiss on my lips - God, I'm never going to get tired of this, am I? - then grins in satisfaction.

"Caught you," he whispers. "Let's get back to the inn." I roll my eyes and walk next to him.

"All that running," I begin, "just for a kiss? You're so desperate." I try to make the words sound as teasing as possible, and apparently it works.

"Don't even try to tell me you didn't enjoy that. I'll know it's a lie."

"You're getting cocky," I joke.

"Well, when you're in my situation-"

"You still get no excuse." We both laugh, and even if we have the world to save, I almost want to put that off another day. Or week. Or year. Better yet, can we just stay like this the rest of our lives?

"It's not every day that you get the girl of your dreams," he says, wrapping an arm around me.

"Oh, please. I'm not even the girl of my own dreams, let alone someone else's." He just tightens his grip.

"Don't be grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy, I'm realistic."

"Stop being grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy!" Link leans in to kiss my temple, and it relaxes every bone inside me.

"Stop." I quit arguing after that and smile to myself, thankful that if I have to do this, he's here beside me.

We walk in silence, when a question comes to mind, a valid one. "How did we get like this in two days?" I ask.

"I think it just happens. When it's there, you feel it. And it just got there really quickly." I chuckle at his answer as if it were a joke, but I know it's at least somewhat true. I actually think the same thing. But can it really happen in less than a week? I guess Midna was right. Link does make fast connections.

"You make a good point, my friend." We approach the door of the inn and step inside, where the lights are on but it's empty. We make a beeline for the stairs and try to get back to the room as quick as possible.

"I left the key in the room," Link says in sudden realization.

"Tell Midna. She'll open it," I respond. Link bangs a hand on the door and it's slowly opened.

"I was wondering how long it would take you two lovebirds to get back here," she says in a tired voice. "I did tell you I got the..." She yawns, cutting off her words. "The picture, right?" I nod as she lets us in and go to sit on the bed. Link walks over to the window to close the door of the balcony, but not without picking up the bowl of half-eaten gumbo. He takes it to a small kitchenette in the corner and sets it there, then walks over to me.

"Well, tonight was amazing," he whispers. I grab my phone and open up the picture Midna took, smiling at it.

"Yeah, I won't delete this," I tell him, not able to tear my eyes away from the screen. This girl has some serious camera skills: the moon centered above us, the lights on the ground in perfect symmetry. Then there's us, in the middle, only partially visible shadows fading into the backdrop. And I wouldn't trade this picture for anything.

I smile and let my body fall back on the bed so I can curl up and sleep. Within seconds Link is beside me with an arm draped over my side, just like the night before. Midna's already in a quiet slumber on the chair against the wall, and I feel myself being dragged towards that same state.

"You're so beautiful," Link says under his breath. I can't decide if he wanted me to hear that or not but I heard it either way. I lightly smile to myself and nuzzle further into his chest, giving him the message that I did. "One more?" he asks, and I know exactly what he means.

I lift my head up to meet his lips, letting the euphoric rush of the kiss take over my mind. His hand runs up my side and onto my neck where he holds me still in his grasp. This one is more passionate, as if we never want to let go of each other; mind you, it's very, very true. When we pull away, I don't even take the chance to look at Link before I snuggle back beside him. He moves his hand once again to my back and rubs circles on it, lulling me to sleep.

\-----------------  
the next day  
\-----------------

I awaken to a shifting body next to mine. Link is sitting himself up, going to get his things ready. This is the first time I've slept in the same clothes I had on the day before, so I feel somewhat grimy. "Morning," he says when he sees me awake.

"Morning," I repeat back. The events of last night just prove to me that there is some connection here, and as much as I want that connection to sprout into an electric current I can't help but feel guilty that I can't. I like him, God, do I like him, but I can't.

"I'm going to wash up real quick, then we can go. Well, unless you need to do the same, in which case Midna can do your clothes for you." He starts to take off his tunic, and I look away before I can get caught staring. Midna is slowly waking up, but she knows her job and doesn't have to argue about it. She lazily floats to the bed where she grabs Link's tunic from beside me and waits for the rest of his clothes.

"Sure, why not?" I say, standing up and walking to the bathroom to pick up a towel. Deciding to let Link have the shower first, I walk back out, but not before getting a glimpse of him shirtless out of the corner of my eye. He has crazily defined muscles, even if they aren't the biggest, and even through my peripherals he can tell I'm looking at them.

"I can see you, you know," he says, giving me a smirk. Okay, as much as I like him, I have to say one thing: he's a hot ass motherfucker, and he knows it.

"An ego can only get you so far," I reply as I sit back down on the bed sheets. He chuckles under his breath and walks past me to the bathroom, not speaking any further.

"What happened last night between the time you left and came back?" Midna asks me when the door closes. "You two are acting like you've been together for years."

"Nothing happened," I say in attempts to get out of the conversation.

"That doesn't work with me, Ebony. What happened?"

I cover my face with the towel. "He kissed me." Midna leans in as if she couldn't understand me.

"What was that?"

"He kissed me. Again," I answer, clearer this time. She lets out a cackle.

"You two tried to deny everything. You're lovestruck, and you know it's true." She rests a hand on my shoulder.

"So what if I am? You already know it can't work out." My face is getting redder by the second.

"Then why did you kiss him?" She says, too loudly for Link to not hear it.

"Because he's cute, and I like him." Midna groans, falling onto the bed.

"Look, Ebony. You're going to leave, he's never going to see you again, and he's going to be heartbroken. It's best to just refuse him now so he doesn't get the disappointment. He's never done this before, he doesn't know what it feels like to love someone. So once he falls in love with you, and once you're gone, he's going to be worse than before. Don't make him feel that way." Something about her little speech pains me.

"He knows I have to get home somehow. He knows! I can't just tell him, 'Hey, I like you a whole damn lot, but because I have to get home, I have to resist all of my feelings towards you.' He knows how I feel about him, and he knows I can't be here forever. He'll understand." Midna raises her hands in defense.

"I'm just saying that he's going to be real hurt when you can't be there for him anymore." I know, Midna. I know. "So if you're not staying, you better love him with everything you have while you're here, enough to make a lifetime of memories." I grab the necklace Link gave me last night and roll it between my thumb and forefinger. I almost want to cry, but I've made it a point to be strong on this trip. So I hold in all the emotions I feel like expressing, and keep them bottled inside me.

"Trust me," I tell her, "I plan on it."

After I take my shower (which is really just pouring water on yourself until you feel clean), I get dressed back in my now clean purple tunic. Link is sharpening his blade when I appear from the bathroom, and he gives me a smile when he sees me. I grab my sword from the corner of the room and sling it on my back.

"Had a nice time?" he asks. I raise an eyebrow at the suggestive wording but ignore it nevertheless.

"Best eighteenth century shower I've ever had." Did they have showers in the eighteenth century? I don't know. I don't pay attention in history. "You probably don't know what a shower is." He shakes his head, laughing.

"No idea."

(5/22/17)


End file.
